The  SAVIOUR'S  Converts. 


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BV  4520  .S3  1880 
Scribner ,  William. 
The  Saviour's  converts,  wha 
we  owe  to  them,  and  how  we 


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THE 


SAVIOUR'S  Converts 


THE 


SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS 


WHAT  WE  OWE  TO  THEM,  AND  HOW 
WE  MAY  AID  THEM 


BY  THE 

REV.  WILLIAM 'SCRIBNER 

AUTHOR  OF 

'Pray  FOR  the  Holy  Spirit,"    "These  Little  Ones,"  etc. 


"  We  cannot  but  think  that  this  whole  subject  of  the  spiritual  care,  nurture, 
and  training  of  young  disciples,  deserves  to  be  more  fully  considered,  and 
practically  to  be  brought  into  far  greater  prominence." — Ray  Palmer. 


NEW    YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

743  AND  745  Broadway 

1880 


Copyright  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS. 

1880. 


Trow's 

Printing  and  Bookbinding  Company, 

201-213  East  \ith  Street^ 

NKW  YORK. 


PREFATORY   NOTE. 


'T^HIS  little  book  was  written  not  so  much 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  Church  to  the 
duty  of  which  it  treats,  as  for  the  purpose  of 
deepening  the  interest  which  all  Christians 
take  in  converts,  and  of  inciting  the  members 
of  our  churches  to  increased  efforts  to  benefit 
them.  There  are  portions  of  the  volume,  as 
the  third  and  fourth  chapters,  which  the  writer 
ventures  to  hope  may  be  read  with  profit  by 
the  convert  himself. 


^:'o, 


£/oe/.-ni?;frr>} 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Converts— The  Holy  Spirit's  Agency— Revivals— The  Re- 
ligious Experience  of  Converts i 

CHAPTER  H. 
Inducements  which  should  stimulate  the  People  of  God  to 

engage  in  the  Work  of  helping  Converts 32 

CHAPTER  HI. 
Some  of  the  doctrinal  Truths  which  the  Convert  should  be 
assisted   to  apprehend  clearly,  in  order  that  he  may 
have  a  healthy  Religious  Experience,  and  also  grow  in 
Grace 64 

CHAPTER   IV. 
Some  of  the  Christian's  Duties,  Difficulties,  Privileges,  and 
Activities,  in  regard  to  which  the  Convert  needs  to  be 
Instructed 104 

CHAPTER  V. 
From  the  earliest  Times  special  Attention  has  been  given 

by  the  Church  to  Catechizing  the  Young 154 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

CONVERTS— THE     HOLY    SPIRITS    AGENCY— REVIVALS 
—THE  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF   CONVERTS. 

'nr^HE  vigor  of  the  spiritual  life,  and  the 
-■-  strength  of  the  faith  of  some  converts, 
have  attracted  the  attention  of  the  whole 
Church.  Not  all  those  who  in  primitive  times 
suffered  tortures  and  death  rather  than  deny 
the  Saviour  were  mature  Christians.  Many  of 
them  were  converts.  It  is  interesting  to  know 
this.  In  various  periods,  and  in  many  places 
where  the  standard  of  the  cross  has  been 
planted,  the  Church  has  had  her  martyrs,  and 
of  these  none  have  been  more  steadfast  than 
new  disciples.  Young  maidens  like  Blandina, 
mere   boys   like   Ponticus,    cheerfully,  nay  tri- 


2  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

umphantly,  bore  tortures  rather  than  deny  their 
Lord.  Churches  established  in  our  own  times 
by  the  labors  of  missionaries  have  often  been 
severely  persecuted,  but  none  of  the  members 
of  these  churches  have  endured  persecution  at 
the  hands  of  their  heathen  countrymen  with 
greater  constancy  than  young  converts. 

But  although  piety  and  devotion  to  the  Saviour 
and  His  cause  have  been  very  remarkable  in  the 
case  of  many  converts,  yet  it  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that,  as  a  general  rule,  young  disciples 
will  be  strong  and  well  established  in  the  faith. 
They  greatly  need  the  sympathy  and  assistance 
of  their  brethren  who  are  more  advanced,  and 
it  is  our  design  in  writing  this  Httle  book  to  in- 
cite our  readers  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  aid 
them. 

Some  are  of  opinion  that  of  the  number  who 
have  recently  begun  the  Christian  course  only 
those  born  outside  of  the  Church  can,  with  strict 
propriety  of  speech,  be  called  converts.  They 
doubt  whether  those  should  be  considered  ac- 
cessions to  the  Church  who  are  born  and  bred 
within  her  pale.  We  intend,  however,  to  apply 
the  word  converts  to  all  who  have  only  been  the 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  3 

professed  followers  of  the  Saviour  for  a  short 
time,  whether,  as  children  of  the  covenant,  they 
were  born  within  the  visible  Church,  or  whether 
they  had  been  outside  of  the  Church  until  they, 
in  their  own  persons,  professed  repentance  and 
faith.  Many  belonging  to  this  latter  class  are 
old  in  years,  while  considered  as  members  of 
the  Saviour's  Church  they  are  young.  "  I  am 
just  four  years  old,"  said  a  man  of  fourscore,  as 
he  leaned  on  his  hoe  in  the  garden.  /'Four 
years  ago  I  began  to  serve  God,  and  then  I  be- 
gan to  live." 

We  wish  in  this  chapter  to  show  briefly,  i. 
That  it  belongs  to  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  to 
make  converts.  2.  That  although  none  are 
true  converts  except  those  whom  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  made  such,  many  regard  themselves 
as  converts  who  have  never  been  the  subjects 
of  the  Spirit's  saving  work,  and  who  are  there- 
fore self-deceived.  3.  That  souls  may  be  con- 
verted, and  are  in  fact  constantly  converted,  at 
other  times  than  in  revivals.  But  4.  That  count- 
less numbers  of  converts  are  the  fruits  of  revi- 
vals. And  5.  That  different  converts  vary  as 
to  their  exercises. 


4  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

I.  It  belongs  to  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  to  make 
converts. 

This  will  be  evident,  in  the  first  place,  when 
we  consider  that  it  is  by  being  regenerated  that 
one  becomes  a  convert,  that  is,  turns  from  sin 
unto  God,  and  that  regeneration  is  that  instan- 
taneous change  from  spiritual  death  to  spiritual 
life  of  which  the  soul  is  the  subject  when  the 
Holy  Spirit  creates  it  anew  by  a  single  exertion 
of  His  power. 

If  no  soul  ever  turns  from  sin  unto  God,  and 
exercises  faith  in  the  Saviour,  until  it  is  regen- 
erated, while  turning  from  sin  unto  God  cer- 
tainly follows  regeneration,  then  if  regeneration 
is  the  sole  and  exclusive  act  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
converts  can  only  be  made  such  by  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

Some,  however,  deny  that  regeneration  is  the 
sole  and  exclusive  act  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  They 
reject  the  doctrine  that  the  natural  state  of  man 
since  the  fall  is  one  of  total  spiritual  death,  and 
consequently  they  maintain  that  the  influence 
by  which  men  are  regenerated  is  a  mere  sua- 
sion. These  persons  contend  that  the  whole 
work  of  the  Spirit  in  our  regeneration  consists 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS,  5 

in  His  exerting  an  influence  on  our  minds  by 
the  presentation  of  truth  and  motives.  Regen- 
eration being  thus  affected  by  moral  suasion — • 
by  the  moral  power  of  the  truth  in  the  hands 
of  the  Spirit,  the  truth  co-operates  with  the 
Spirit  in  the  regenerating  act,  as  also  does  the 
soul  which  yields  to  the  influence  of  this  moral 
power. 

The  Scriptural  doctrine,  however,  is  that 
raising  a  soul  from  spiritual  death  to  spiritual 
life  is  the  act  of  God's  omnipotent  agency.  It 
is  effected  by  the  mighty  power  of  God.  So 
says  the  Apostle  in  Eph.  i.  17-19.  He  tells  the 
Ephesians  that  they  had  been  quickened — re- 
generated—  new  created  by  the  very  power 
which  wrought  in  Christ  when  God  raised  Him 
from  the  dead.  This  is  only  one  passage  out 
of  many  which  teach  that  regeneration  is  a 
change  which  the  Holy  Spirit's  power  alone 
can  accomplish. 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  we  are  now 
speaking  of  regeneration.  It  is  admitted  that  in 
conversion  {i.  ^.,  in  the  turning  of  the  soul  from 
sin  unto  God)  and  in  exercising  faith,  which  are 
the  effects  of  regeneration,  and  imply  it,  the 


6  THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

soul  is  active  and  co-operates  with  the  Divine 
Spirit.  Faith,  we  say,  impHes  regeneration,  but 
no  man  is  for  that  reason  excusable  for  refusing 
to  believe  in  Christ  until  he  knows  that  he  is 
regenerated.  To  obey  the  gospel  call  (and  to 
believe  in  Jesus  is  to  obey  the  gospel  call),  is 
the  immediate  duty  of  all  who  hear  that  call. 
All  who  when  they  hear  the  call  obey  it  as  the 
jailer  of  Philippi  did,  are  saved.  Paul  said  to 
him,  i.  e.y  the  gospel  call  to  him  was,  **  Believe 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved."  Had  he  rejected  Christ  thus  offered  to 
him  he  would  have  been  conscious  that  he  did 
it  voluntarily  and  deliberately.  When  the  be- 
liever looks  back  upon  the  years  of  his  impeni- 
tency,  he  mourns  that  he  so  long  and  so  con- 
stantly rejected  the  blessed  Saviour.  He  knows 
that  he  did  it  deliberately  and  freely.  He 
knows,  indeed,  that  the  sin  is  now  forgiven  by 
Him  whom  he  rejected,  but  that  does  not  re- 
move his  sorrow  for  it  and  he  does  not  forgive 
himself.  The  unrenewed  in  Christian  lands  are 
living  in  this  sin,  but  they  are  conscious  that 
they  are  not  forced  to  reject  Christ — that  they 
do  it  of  their  own  free  will.     Instead  of  feeling 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS,  7 

that  they  are  not  accountable  in  the  matter, 
they  know  that  they  reject  the  Saviour  as 
free  agents,  and  that  they  are  justly  condemn- 
ed because  they  love  darkness  rather  than 
light. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  Holy  Spirit  alone 
can  make  a  convert,  because  He  alone  regen- 
erates the  soul. 

But,  secondly,  there  is  another  way  in  which 
the  affirmation  can  be  shown  to  be  true. 

If  we  should  say  that  a  Christian  is  one  who 
has  passed  from  a  state  of  spiritual  death  to  a 
state  of  spiritual  life,  who  has  been  created 
anew  by  the  regenerating  act  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  who  has  undergone  a  transformation  of 
nature  so  as  to  be  in  some  degree  holy,  as  God 
is  holy,  we  should  assert  what  is  true,  and  yet 
this  is  not  a  full  description  of  a  Christian.  Nor 
would  a  Christian  be  fully  described  if  we 
should  add  to  this  that  he  is  one,  who  having 
received  spiritual  life,  has  turned  with  grief  and 
hatred  of  his  sin  unto  God.  When  we  explain 
what  we  mean  by  a  Christian,  we  do  indeed 
affirm  these  things  of  him,  but  we  feel  that  our 
representation  is  incomplete  unless  we  describe 


8  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS, 

him  as  one  who  worships,  loves,  trusts,  and 
obeys  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Now,  a  convert  does  not  differ  from  any 
other  Christian  except  in  this,  that  he  has  only 
been  a  Christian  a  short  time,  and  is  therefore 
immature.  The  spiritual  life  and  the  spiritual 
perceptions  of  a  convert  are  precisely  the  same 
as  to  their  nature  as  those  of  all  Christians,  and 
he  has,  as  the  object  of  his  adoration  and  trust, 
the  same  blessed  Saviour. 

No  one  is  a  convert  unless  he  has  begun  to 
see  Jesus  to  be  the  chief  among  ten  thousands, 
to  apprehend  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Jesus,  to  discern  His  divine  loveliness,  to  rest 
upon  Him,  love  Him,  trust  in  Him,  worship 
Him,  and  serve  Him. 

But  not  a  soul  in  the  universe  can  thus  know, 
trust,  love,  and  follow  Jesus  of  itself.  Only  the 
Holy  Spirit  can  take  of  the  things  of  Christ 
and  show  them  into  the  soul,  and  therefore 
those  only  can  be  converts  who  are  made  such 
by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

To  the  natural  man  the  Lord  Jesus  is  as  a 
root  out  of  a  dry  ground,  one  in  whom  there  is 
no  form  nor  comeliness.     It  is  as  true  of  the 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  9 

Saviour  now  as  it  was  in  the  apostle's  days, 
that  He  is  disallowed  indeed  of  men,  but  chosen 
of  God  and  precious.*  Only  to  those  who  are 
the  subjects  of  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  can 
these  words  be  addressed  with  any  meaning : 
'*  That  the  trial  of  your  faith,  being  much  more 
precious  than  of  gold  that  perisheth,  though  it 
be  tried  with  fire,  might  be  found  unto  praise 
aid  honor  and  glory  at  the  appearing  of 
Jesus  Christ :  whom  having  not  seen,  ye  love  ; 
in  whom,  though  now  ye  see  him  not,  yet 
believing,  ye  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory . "  f  Let  it  never  be  forgotten,  then, 
that  poor,  lost,  blind,  perishing  sinners,  though 
richiy  deserving  eternal  punishment  for  their 
sins,  and  especially  for  the  sin  of  rejecting 
Christ,  can  never  be  made  true  converts  except 
by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

2.  Although  none  are  really  converts ^  except 
those  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  has  made  such, 
many  regard  themselves  as  converts  who  have 
never  beett  the  subjects  of  the  Spirit's  saving 
workf  and  who  are  therefore  self- deceived. 


•  I  Pet.  ii.  4.  t  I  Pet.  u  7. 

I* 


lO  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS, 

Our  Lord,  in  His  parable  of  the  sower,  pre- 
sents to  us  a  class  of  hearers  of  the  Word  who, 
under  the  common  operations  of  the  Spirit,  ex- 
ercise a  temporary  faith,  which,  however,  is 
only  temporary,  and  who  even  receive  the 
Word  with  joy.  The  faith  which  they  exer- 
cise, and  which  has  the  appearance  of  bein^ 
genuine,  not  only  produces  joy,  but,  for  a  while, 
seems  to  produce  other  effects  of  a  saving  be- 
lief, for  they  do  many  things,  discharge  their 
religious  duties  with  alacrity,  and  even  practise 
severe  self-denial  with  cheerfulness.  It  is  no 
matter  for  surprise,  however,  that  this  class  of 
hearers  fall  away,  for  they  are  like  the  seed 
which  had  no  root,  of  which  our  Saviour 
speaks  in  His  parable,  and  which,  therefore, 
notwithstanding  that  it  sprung  up  at  firs:  with 
every  appearance  of  health  and  vigor,  was 
scorched  as  soon  as  the  sun  reached  his  meri- 
dian. 

What  is  described  in  our  Saviour's  parable 
has  always  been,  and  is  still  going  on,  especi- 
ally, perhaps,  in  seasons  of  revival.  You  will 
see  many  who,  having  attended  to  the  presen- 
tation of  the  Word,  are  brought  under  convic- 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  TI 

tlon.  They  feel  the  power  of  the  truth  be- 
cause their  conscience  is  aroused  and  enlight- 
ened, and  yields  to  the  truth  an  irresistible 
assent.  Their  conviction  terminates  in  a  hope 
of  acceptance,  and  this  hope  produces  joy. 
But  their  outward  duties  which  they  begin  to 
practise — their  new  mode  of  life — ere  long  be- 
comes burdensome.  By  degrees  they  relax 
their  efforts,  and  finally  become  like  those  who 
have  never  made  any  profession.  The  secret 
of  their  falling  away  is  that  they  never  had  any 
true  grace  existing  in  their  hearts.  Their  faith 
is  not  that  which  is  exercised  by  a  soul  truly 
renewed.  It  is  not  founded  on  the  illumina- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  it  is  founded  only  on 
the  assent  of  an  awakened  conscience.  No 
wonder  these  hearers  are  unable  to  withstand 
the  world's  temptations. 

The  thorny-ground  hearers  present  us  with 
still  another  class  of  self-deceived  converts. 
They  are  the  apparent  converts  who  speedily 
become  steeped  in  the  cares,  the  riches,  and 
the  pleasures  of  this  life.  The  world,  in  some 
one  of  its  forms,  absorbs  their  whole  attention 
and  thus  destroys  the  influence  of  the   truth 


12  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

which  had  begun  to  affect  their  hearts,  just  as 
the  thorns  in  our  Saviour's  parable  sprung  up 
with  the  seed,  choked  it,  and  so  prevented  it 
from  bringing  forth  fruit. 

When  self-deceived  converts,  such  as  the 
thorny-ground  and  stony-ground  hearers,  are 
spoken  of  as  falling  away,  or  going  back  to  the 
world,  it  is  not  meant  that  they  certainly  be- 
come immoral  in  their  lives,  or  that  they  always 
forsake  the  house  of  God.  They  may  continue 
to  be  steady  attendants  on  the  preaching  of  the 
Word,  and  they  may  ever  be  found  in  their 
places  at  the  Lord's  table.  But  they  may 
properly  be  said  to  fall  away  if  they  relapse 
into  a  state  of  carnal  security,  and  if  during  the 
remainder  of  their  lives  they  attend  to  their 
religious  duties  as  a  matter  of  form,  and  with- 
out any  relish  for  them.  Nor  is  it  meant  that 
their  case  is  necessarily  hopeless.  Would  their 
pastors  and  the  other  church  officers,  and  also 
all  their  fellow  communicants,  with  tender  solici- 
tude, watch  over  them  as  our  Lord  requires  all 
church  members  to  watch  over  each  other, 
they  might  yet  be  converted,  although  their 
case  may  seem  discouraging  in  consequence  of 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  13 

their  having  gone  so  far  as  to  join  the  Church 
while  in  an  unconverted  state. 

The  danger  of  self-deception  is  not  suffi- 
ciently dwelt  upon  by  ministers  of  the  gospel, 
and  yet  how  many  professors,  without  any  in- 
tention to  appear  what  they  are  not,  are  only 
Christians  in  name,  have  never  experienced  the 
new  birth,  and  are  still  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins  !  That  those  who  seek  admission  into  the 
visible  Church  are  in  great  danger  of  deceiving 
themselves,  and  that  many  already  in  the 
Church  remain  in  delusion,  and  at  last  perish, 
is  apparent  from  the  alarming  declarations  of 
Christ  in  Matt.  vii.  21-23. 

Many  self-deceived  professors  think  that  they 
have  good  reason  to  be  satisfied  that  all  is  well 
with  them  on  this  ground,  viz.,  that  the  officers 
of  the  church  upon  examining  them  at  the  time 
of  their  admission,  judged  them  to  be  true 
Christians.  They  do  not  consider  that  those 
who  are  appointed  to  receive  persons  into  the 
visible  Church  never  pretend  to  feel  certain 
that  those  whom  they  receive  as  Church  mem- 
bers  are  true  believers.  They  admit  that  they 
have   no  power  to  read  the  heart,  and  to  tell 


14  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS. 

what  is  going  on  within  the  soul  of  another. 
The  truth  is  they  are  required  by  Christ  to 
receive  into  the  Church  all  applicants  who  pro- 
fess to  exercise  faith  in  Jesus,  whose  profession 
is  credible.  They  are  never  to  be  considered 
as  passing  any  judgment  on  the  validity  of  the 
evidence  given  by  the  applicant.  Let  no 
Church  member  then  rest  his  assurance  that  he 
is  a  true  Christian  on  the  favorable  opinion  of 
his  case,  formed  by  the  church  office  bearers  at 
the  time  of  his  admission. 

We  are  not  to  ascribe  that  conviction  of  sin 
and  enlightenment  of  conscience,  and  tempo- 
rary faith  with  its  accompanying  joy,  which  we 
often  witness  in  spurious  converts  to  the  mere 
power  of  the  truth.  Even  those  exercises  of 
soul  which  are  not  of  a  holy  nature,  much  as 
they  resemble  the  religious  exercises  of  the 
regenerated,  would  never  have  any  existence 
but  for  that  influence  of  the  Spirit  usually 
called  common  grace  which  attends  the  truth 
wherever  it  is  proclaimed,  and  which,  in  a 
greater  or  less  measure,  is  granted  to  all  who 
hear  the  word. 

As  long  as  the  heart  is  deceitful,  and  Satan  is 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  15 

busy,  and  church  officers  are  unable  to  "read 
the  heart,  there  will  always  be  additions  to  the 
Church  of  unconverted  persons,  but  these  addi- 
tions would  be  less  frequent  than  they  are 
were  all  pastors  skilful  and  diHgent  in  warning 
their  hearers  as  to  the  danger  of  indulging  false 
hopes,  and  in  explaining  to  them  the  nature  of 
true  religion.  Many  have  felt  that  there  is 
often  too  great  haste  in  admitting  the  hope- 
fully converted  to  sealing  ordinances.  Says  the 
late  Dr.  Spencer,  in  his  **  Pastor  Sketches:'* 
**  Admission  to  the  sealing  ordinances  of  the 
Church,  especially  in  times  of  revival,  is  a  point 
of  no  little  danger.  Our  ministers  and  churches 
have  too  often  erred  on  this  point.  It  seems 
to  be  too  often  forgotten  that  then  the  popular 
feeling  tends  into  the  Church.  Fashion  is  that 
way,  and  sympathy  that  way,  and  all  the  com- 
mon influences  which  the  young  are  particu- 
larly likely  to  feel  tend  to  urge  them  forward 
in  the  same  direction.  Far  better  would  it  be 
for  the  purity  of  the  Church,  and  for  the  com- 
fort and  salvation  of  individuals,  if  some  few 
months  were  allowed  to  pass  before  the  hopefully 
converted  were  received  into  the  communion." 


1 6  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS. 

As  to  unconverted  persons  who  are  already 
communicants ^  if  more  faithful  efforts  were  put 
forth  to  save  even  them,  such  efforts  would 
doubtless  be  attended  with  the  happiest  re- 
sults. 

The  distinguished  servant  of  Christ,  from 
whose  work  the  above  quotation  is  made,  was 
a  model  pastor  in  regard  to  the  duty  of  watch- 
ing over  those  who  had  already  joined  the 
Church.  Speaking  of  certain  members  of  his 
church  over  whom  his  heart  yearned,  and  for 
whom  he  felt  a  deep  solicitude  lest  they  had 
become  communicants  without  having  been 
truly  converted,  he  says  :  **  I  afterwards  sought 
out  every  one  of  them,  and  alone  they  opened 
their  hearts  to  me,"  and  the  happiest  results, 
as  we  are  led  to  infer,  rewarded  his  faithfulness 
to  these  members. 

He  adds,  ''But  it  is  a  very  difficult  and  labori- 
ous thing  for  a  minister  to  deal  with  such 
cases.  But  he  ought  to  deal  with  them.  He 
will  seldom  labor  in  vain  ;  and  while  engaged 
in  this  field  of  duty  he  is  engaged  in  the  best 
field  of  study.  His  work  then  lies  nearest  his 
heart,  and  he  cannot  fail  to  know  the  human 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  1/ 

heart  more  accurately,  and  learn  how  to  apply 
the  powers  of  his  mind,  and  the  truth  of  God  to 
souls  ready  to  perish." 

3.  Souls  may  be  converted,  and  are  in  fact 
constantly  converted,  at  other  times  than  in  sea- 
sons of  revival. 

If  by  a  revival  we  mean  a  great  and  sudden 
multiplication  of  believers  —  the  simultaneous 
conversion  of  many  persons,  then,  of  course,  it  is 
not  through  revivals  that  the  children  of  the 
covenant  come  into  the  visible  Church. 

But  setting  aside  the  children  of  believers, 
immense  numbers  come  from  the  world  into 
the  Church  at  other  times  than  in  revivals. 
The  conversion  of  many  is  spoken  of  in  the 
Bible  who  were  not  brought  into  the  Church 
during  periods  of  revival,  as  the  conversion  of 
Zaccheus  the  pubhcan  ;  of  the  woman  who 
washed  the  Saviour's  feet  with  tears  ;  of  the 
thief  crucified  with  our  blessed  Saviour ;  of 
Cornehus,  the  Roman  centurion  ;  of  Lydia  ;  of 
the  Eunuch,  the  treasurer  of  the  Queen  of 
Ethiopia  ;  of  Saul  of  Tarsus,  and  his  com- 
panions, Barnabas,  ApoUos,  Timothy,  Titus, 
Aquila  and  Priscilla,  Epaphroditus,  Onesemus 


1 8  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

and  others.  During  the  centuries  that  are  past, 
and  in  all  countries  where  the  Church  has  been 
planted,  the  labors  of  pastors  and  private  church 
members  have  been  fruitful  in  the  steady  quiet 
ingathering  of  souls  without  revivals.  It  can- 
not be  denied  that  this  is  one  of  the  methods 
of  advancing  His  kingdom,  which  the  Saviour 
chooses  to  employ. 

And  yet  some  unhesitatingly  proclaim  that 
revivals  are  the  only  or  almost  the  only  means 
of  promoting  religion.  This  error  leads  many 
to  teach,  not  only  that  it  depends  entirely  on 
ourselves  whether  we  enjoy  these  visitations  or 
not  —  that  God  would  ^at  any  time  send  them, 
were  the  desire  for  them  sufficiently  strong,  but 
to  appeal  to  particular  passages  of  Scripture  (as 
for  example  certain  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment) as  containing  promises  of  God  to  grant 
revivals  at  any  season  the  petitioner  may  spe- 
cify. 

When  a  believer  importunately  prays  that 
God  would  give  His  Holy  Spirit,  he  can  plead 
numerous  express  promises  that  such  a  prayer 
shall  be  heard  —  he  is  able  to  present  to  his 
Heavenly  Father  this  reason   why   he   should 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  1 9 

grant  the  request,  viz.,  that  there  are  plain 
promises  in  the  Scriptures  to  bestow  the  Holy- 
Spirit  on  all  who  ask  for  Him.  And  in  Hke 
manner  when  he  intercedes  for  the  Saviour's 
Church,  or  for  the  world  of  perishing  men,  he 
can  appeal  to  explicit  assurances  given  in  the 
Bible  that  prayer  for  the  descent  of  the  Spirit 
upon  the  Church  of  God,  and  upon  men,  shall 
be  answered  literally.  But  there  is  no  promise 
in  the  Bible  that  prayer  for  the  descent  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  on  a  particular  church  at  a  partic- 
ular time  shall  meet  with  a  literal  answer.  It 
is  admitted  that  it  is  freely  permitted  us  to 
offer  such  a  request  if  we  confide  in  the  Sa- 
viour's love  for  us,  and  for  His  Church,  and  in 
His  willingness  to  do  what  will  be  best  for  His 
cause.  But  we  can  point  to  no  express  prom- 
ise that  such  prayer  will  inevitably  secure  the 
help  of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  the  time,  and  in  the 
way  we  specify.  For  a  revival  preacher  there- 
fore to  say  to  a  church  :  "  You  will  certainly 
have  an  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  the 
expiration  often  days  or  a  fortnight  from  now, 
if  you  will  but  pray  for  it,"  is  presumptuous. 
And   yet  we  knew  a   revival  preacher   to  say 


20  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

this,  and  to  warn  the  people  not  to  come 
hastily  to  a  conclusion  adverse  to  his  predic- 
tion, but  to  wait  till  ten  days  or  two  weeks 
had  expired,  and  they  would  certainly  see  his 
prediction  fulfilled.  And  sometimes  revival 
preachers,  at  the  beginning  of  the  protracted 
meetings  about  to  be  held,  publicly  and  ostenta- 
tiously thank  God  for  the  revival  which  tJiey 
are  certain  He  will  send  before  the  series  of 
meetings  is  concluded.  The  only  proper  ob- 
ject of  faith  is  some  revelation  of  God,  but  it  is 
nowhere  revealed  that  it  is  God's  purpose  to 
give  a  particular  church  a  revival  at  a  time  the 
petitioner  may  fix  upon,  provided  that  peti- 
tioner's prayer  is  sincere  and  oft  repeated. 

Errors  of  this  kind  men  naturally  fall  into 
who  limit  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  to  revivals, 
and  think  that  this  is  the  only  way  in  which  the 
Saviour's  kingdom  can  be  built  up.  Souls  are 
constantly  converted  at  other  times  than  in  sea- 
sons of  revival. 

It  is  the  happiness  of  almost  every  one  to 
know  faithful  pastors  whose  churches,  using 
only  the  ordinary  means  of  grace,  have  pros- 
pered and  increased  by  the  constant   addition 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  21 

of  converts.  A  pastor  speaking  lately  of  the 
events  of  his  thirty  years'  pastorate,  said  :  *'  Re- 
vivals, technically  so  called,  have  not  marked 
our  history,  but  we  have  had  long  periods  of 
ingathering,  without  greatly  multiplying  our 
services,  and  without  painful  reaction."  The 
church  of  this  servant  of  God,  though  not  vis- 
ited by  revivals,  has  on  three  different  occa- 
sions been  able  to  give  away  members  and 
families  to  form  separate  organizations,  and 
these  are  now  three  flourishing  churches. 

We,  of  course,  rejoice  to  acknowledge  what 
is  so  evident,  that  it  is  God's  design  that  the 
work  of  redemption  should  be  carried  on  in 
part  by  means  of  revivals.  Though  each  par- 
ticular church  would,  on  the  whole,  prosper 
more  by  a  regular  normal  increase  than  by 
violent  alternations,  yet  when  we  consider  the 
masses,  the  immense  fields  white  already  to 
harvest,  and  when  we  consider  the  certainty 
that  there  are  countless  multitudes  who  will 
continue  to  be  neglected,  and  who  will  never 
have  salvation  unless  they  have  it  quickly,  we 
feel  that  revivals  in  our  world,  powerful  works 
of  grace,  are   absolutely   necessary.     We  have 


22  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

only  intended  to  remind  the  reader,  that  since 
there  are  often  accessions  to  the  Church  when 
there  are  no  revivals,  in  speaking  of  the  great 
needs  of  converts  in  this  little  book,  and  in 
endeavoring  to  awaken  a  deeper  interest  in 
them,  we  do  not  have  exclusive  reference  to 
those  who  are  added  to  the  Church  in  revival 
times.     But  we  now  add  that, 

4.  Cotintless  numbers  of  converts  have  been 
ill  times  pasty  and  will  be  in  future  times  the 
fruits  of  revivals. 

Although  not  all  who  lived  in  the  Apostle's 
days  were  converted  in  seasons  of  remarkable 
awakenings,  yet  we  know  that  three  thousand 
of  Peter's  hearers  were  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost thus  gathered  in.  In  the  primitive  age, 
and  in  what  we  call  the  reformation  period, 
there  was  a  succession  of  glorious  revivals,  and 
doubtless  it  was  in  these  seasons  that  the  prin- 
cipal part  of  believers  then  in  the  world  had 
been  converted. 

There  have  been  times  when  it  could  have 
been  said  with  truth  of  the  larger  portion  of 
church  members  in  many  sections  of  our  own 
country,   that  they  had  been  brought  into  the 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  23 

Saviour's  kingdom  during  the  progress  of  re- 
vivals. There  are  yet  to  be  many  such  visita- 
tions before  the  second  appearing  of  our  blessed 
Lord.  This  can  be  doubted  by  no  one.  Re- 
mote, indeed,  must  be  the  estabHshment  of  our 
dear  Lord's  kingdom  on  the  ruins  of  Satan's 
kingdom,  unless  our  poor  world  is  to  be  fa- 
vored with  numerous  and  powerful  effusions  of 
the  Spirit,  resulting  in  many  precious  harvests 
of  souls.  We  should  desire  such  precious  har- 
vests for  all  classes,  not  excluding  the  depraved 
multitude — the  lowest  and  the  vilest.  ''Could 
we  unroof  the  dense  portions  of  our  great  cities, 
and  look  into  the  dens  of  drink  and  debauch- 
ery, we  should  behold  undeniable  signs  of 
wounded  spirits,  without  hope,  without  God. 
The  gospel  was  made  for  such,  and  has  saved 
such.  Amidst  the  reiterated  and  increasing 
prayers  which  go  up  for  the  outpouring  of  the 
Spirit,  surely  there  ought  to  be  importunate 
supplication  for  influences  to  penetrate  these 
lowest  strata.  Awakening  is  incomplete  un- 
less it  go  deeper,  far  deeper  down  than  our 
well-dressed  throngs.  We  also  crave  it  for  the 
abject  and  the  abandoned.     The  blind  and  the 


24  THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

vicious,  from  whose  ranks  the  levies  are  made 
for  riots  and  prisons,  will  not  flock  to  the 
preached  word  until  some  fresh  and  irresist- 
ible influence,  affecting  the  whole  population, 
find  its  way  to  the  very  scenes  of  their  noctur- 
nal orgies.  We  can  think  of  nothing  more 
likely  to  compel  the  attention  of  blasphemous, 
base,  and  even  violent  men  and  women,  than 
a  mighty  tide  of  revival,  pressing  its  repeated 
waves  into  their  miserable  homes  and  hearts. 
Our  blessed  Lord  has  taught  us  that  these  not 
only  need  the  truth,  but  are  accessible  to  its 
power.  *' Jesus  saith  unto  them.  Verily  I  say 
unto  you.  That  the  publicans  and  the  harlots 
go  into  the  kingdom  of  God  before  you." 

The  time  is  coming  when,  if  the  Church  is  to 
overspread  the  earth,  there  will  be  far  more 
glorious  revivals  than  have  yet  been  witnessed, 
and  she  will  be  guilty  of  unspeakable  folly  un- 
less she  endeavors  to  be  prepared  for  these  in- 
gatherings ;  and  in  no  way  can  she  be  better 
prepared  for  them  than  by  using  every  means 
in  her  power  to  qualify  herself  for  the  work  of 
training  the  converts  who  are  to  be  the  fruits  of 
the  revivals  which  are  to  be  sent,  and  of  build- 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  2$ 

ing  them  up  in  the  faith.  And  since  powerful 
outpourings  of  the  Spirit  will  be  as  much  needed 
in  future  times  as  in  times  gone  by,  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  the  utmost  importance  that  all  her  mem- 
bers avoid  every  act  and  every  sinful  neglect 
which  may  prove  a  hindrance  to  such  effusions. 

5.  The  exercises  of  soul  previously  to  conver- 
sion, a?id  also  subsequently  to  this  great  change ^ 
differ  in  differetit  converts. 

Conviction  of  sin  is  indeed  essentially  the 
same  in  all  who  are  the  subjects  of  it.  All 
under  conviction  feel  that  they  deserve,  and  are 
exposed  to,  eternal  death,  because  of  their  want 
of  conformity  to  God's  law.  They  also  feel 
that  their  sinfulness  is  pollution  and  renders 
them  morally  offensive,  the  objects  of  disappro- 
bation and  abhorrence.  In  addition  to  this, 
they  see  and  feel  that  they  are  helpless,  in  that 
they  cannot  make  any  atonement  for  their 
guilt,  nor  deliver  themselves  from  the  domin- 
ion which  sin  has  over  them.  All  true  converts 
had  this  sense  of  sin,  of  ill  desert,  of  inward 
pollution,  and  of  helplessness  previously  to 
their  passing  from  death  to  life.  They  have  it, 
indeed,  afterward  and  during  their  whole  Chris- 


26  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

tian  course,  but  then,  i.  e.,  after  they  have  ac- 
tually become  Christians,  it  is  accompanied 
with  an  apprehension  of  God's  mercy,  through 
Jesus  Christ,  with  a  sorrow  which  is  godly  and 
holy,  and  with  filial  feelings. 

But  although  conviction  of  sin  is  essentially 
the  same  in  all  souls  awakened,  but  not  yet 
converted,  there  is  discovered  also  the  greatest 
diversity  ;  the  effects  of  such  conviction  *'  being 
modified  by  the  temperament,  the  knowledge, 
the  circumstances,  and  concomitant  exercises  of 
those  who  experience  it.  A  sentence  of  death 
if  passed  upon  a  hundred  men  would  probably 
affect  no  two  alike.  The  mind  of  one  might 
fasten  particularly  on  the  turpitude  of  his 
crime  ;  that  of  another  upon  the  disgrace  which 
he  had  incurred  ;  that  of  a  third  on  the  suffer- 
ings of  his  friends  on  his  account ;  that  of  a 
fourth  upon  the  horrors  of  death,  or  upon  the 
fearfulness  of  appearing  before  God.  All  these 
and  many  other  views  in  endless  combination 
might  operate  with  different  degrees  of  force 
on  each,  and  the  result  be  still  further  modified 
by  their  physical  and  moral  temperament,  their 
knowledge  and  previous  history.     The  endless 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  2/ 

diversity,  therefore,  in  the  experience  of  men 
when  convinced  of  sin,  is  what  might  be  ex- 
pected." 

Converts  also  differ  among  themselves  as  to 
their  experience  immediately  after  coming  to 
Christ,  and  that  notwithstanding  that  the  exer- 
cises of  piety  are  always  essentially  the  same. 
*'  There  are  doubtless  great  diversities  in  the 
appearances  of  the  motions  and  actings  of 
piety  in  its  incipient  stages.  Some  at  the  time 
of  their  new  birth  are  brought  at  once  into  the 
clear  light  of  day.  They  are  as  if  introduced 
into  a  new  world.  The  sun  of  righteousness 
has  risen  upon  them  without  an  intervening 
cloud.  Their  perception  of  divine  things  is  so 
new,  and  so  clear  that  they  feel  persuaded  that 
they  can  convince  others  and  cause  them  to  see 
and  feel  as  they  do.  Such  persons  can  no 
more  doubt  of  their  conversion  than  of  their 
existence."  On  the  other  hand  the  new  exer- 
cises of  the  religious  life  of  others  are  very 
faint,  and  yet  these  latter  may  eventually  far 
exceed  in  piety  and  excellence  of  character 
those  who  commenced  their  Christian  Hfe  with 
more  lively  religious  views  and  feelings.     There 


28  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

is,  however,  no  good  reason  why  those  con- 
verts whose  souls  are  richly  blessed  in  the  very 
beginning  of  their  Christian  course,  should 
afterward  lose  the  benefit  of  their  sweet  early 
experiences,  if  they  persevere  from  the  first,  in 
the  earnest  and  diligent  use  of  the  means  of 
grace. 

The  following  is  an  account  of  the  remarka- 
ble early  religious  exercises  of  the  great  and 
good  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  whose  prog- 
ress in  piety  was,  it  cannot  be  doubted,  with- 
out any  interruption  to  the  very  close  of  his 
long  and  useful  life :  '*  I  read  all  the  religious 
narratives  I  could  procure,  and  labored  much 
to  put  myself  into  the  state  in  which  others 
described  themselves  to  have  been  before  en- 
joying hope.  But  all  these  efforts  and  desires 
proved  abortive,  and  I  began  to  see  much  more 
of  the  wickedness  of  my  own  heart  than  ever 
before.  I  was  distressed  and  discouraged,  and 
convinced  that  I  had  placed  too  much  depend- 
ence on  mere  means,  and  on  my  own  efforts. 
I  therefore  determined  to  give  myself  inces- 
santly to  prayer  until  I  found  mercy,  or  per- 
ished in  the  pursuit. 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  29 

*'  This  resolution  was  formed  on  a  Sunday- 
evening.  The  next  morning  I  took  my  Bible 
and  walked  several  miles  into  the  dense  wood 
of  the  Bushy  Hills,  which  were  then  wholly  un- 
cultivated. Finding  a  place  that  pleased  me,  at 
the  foot  of  a  projecting  rock,  in  a  dark  valley, 
I  began,  with  great  earnestness,  the  course 
which  I  had  prescribed  to  myself.  I  prayed, 
and  then  read  in  the  Bible,  prayed  and  read, 
prayed  and  read,  until  my  strength  was  ex- 
hausted ;  for  I  had  taken  no  nourishment  that 
day.  But  the  more  I  strove  the  harder  my 
heart  became,  and  the  more  barren  was  my 
mind  of  every  serious  or  tender  feeling.  I 
tasted  then  some  of  the  bitterness  of  despair. 
It  seemed  to  be  my  last  resource,  and  now  this 
had  utterly  failed.  I  was  about  to  desist  from 
the  endeavor,  when  the  thought  occurred  to 
me,  that  though  I  was  helpless,  and  my  case 
was  nearly  desperate,  yet  it  would  be  well  to 
cry  to  God  to  help  me  in  this  extremity.  I 
knelt  upon  the  ground  and  had  poured  out 
perhaps  a  single  petition,  or  rather  broken  cry 
for  help,  when,  in  a  moment,  I  had  such  a  view 
of  a   crucified   Saviour,  as   is  without  a   par- 


30  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

allel  in  my  experience.  The  whole  plan  of 
grace  appeared  as  plain  as  day.  I  was  per- 
suaded that  God  was  wiUing  to  accept  me,  just 
as  I  was,  and  convinced  that  I  had  never  before 
understood  the  freeness  of  salvation,  but  had 
always  been  striving  to  bring  some  price  in  my 
hand,  or  to  prepare  myself  for  receiving  Christ. 
Now  I  discovered  that  I  could  receive  Him  in 
all  his  offices  at  that  very  moment,  which  I  was 
sure  at  the  time  I  did.  I  felt  truly  a  joy  which 
was  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  How  long 
this  delightful  frame  continued  I  cannot  tell. 
But  when  my  affections  had  a  little  subsided,  I 
opened  my  Bible  and  alighted  on  the  eigh- 
teenth and  nineteenth  chapters  of  John.  The 
sacred  page  appeared  to  be  illuminated;  the 
truths  were  new,  as  if  I  had  never  read  them 
before  ;  and  I  thought  it  would  be  always  thus. 
Having  often  thought  of  engaging  in  a  written 
covenant  with  God,  but  having  never  before 
found  a  freedom  to  do  so,  I  now  felt  no  hesi- 
tation, and,  having  writing  materials  in  my 
pocket,  I  sat  down  and  penned  it  exactly  from 
my  feelings,  and  solemnly  signed  it  as  in  the 
presence  of  God. 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  31 

*^  I  expected  now  to  feel  uniformly  different 
from  what  had  preceded,  and  to  be  always  in 
lively  emotion,  thinking  my  troubles  all  at  an 
end.  As  I  had  been  much  distressed  by  dis- 
covering the  sins  of  my  heart,  and  as  I  had 
read  in  Scripture  that  faith  works  purification, 
I  resolved  to  make  this  the  test.  At  the  time, 
indeed,  I  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  sincerity  of 
my  faith  ;  and  in  the  paper  of  self-dedication 
above  mentioned,  I  expressed  the  assurance 
that  if  I  had  never  before  received  Christ,  1  did 
then  and  there  receive  Him.  For  several  days 
my  mind  was  serene.  But  before  a  week  had 
elapsed,  darkness  began  to  gather  over  me 
again.  Inbred  corruption  began  to  stir.  In  a 
word,  I  fell  back  into  the  same  state  of  dark- 
ness and  conflict  as  before." 

This  state  of  mind  continued  for  some  time, 
even  after  he  had  made  a  profession  of  his 
faith.  But,  on  looking  back  in  after  life,  he 
expresses  his  belief  that  the  exercises  given 
above  were  genuine,  and  that  the  period  of 
darkness  that  followed  those  exercises,  did  not 
prove  that  he  had  not  been  regenerated. 


CHAPTER  II. 

INDUCEMENTS  WHICH  SHOULD  STIMULATE  THE  PEO- 
PLE OF  GOD  TO  ENGAGE  IN  THE  WORK  OF  HELPING 
CONVERTS. 

TDERHAPS  you  have  a  dear  friend  who  was 
^  until  lately  in  bondage  to  sin  and  Satan, 
but  who,  in  answer  to  your  fervent  and  impor- 
tunate prayers  in  his  behalf,  offered  for  many 
years,  is  now  a  true  disciple  of  Jesus.  What 
are  your  feelings  when  you  think  of  this  friend 
for  whose  salvation  you  so  earnestly  and  per- 
severingly  prayed  ?  What  are  the  intense  de- 
sires of  your  soul  with  reference  to  him  ?  Are 
they  not  that  he  should  steadily  grow  in  the 
divine  life,  and  become  stronger  and  stronger 
to  resist  evil  and  to  practise  all  Christian  ex- 
cellencies ?  And  in  the  efforts  which  you 
earnestly  make  to  be  of  service  to  him,  and  to 
help  him,  are  not  those  efforts  called  forth  by 
your   knowledge  that  he  is,  as  yet,  weak  as  a 


THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  33 

Christian,  and  has  many  and  exceedingly  great 
spiritual  wants  needing  attention  ?  Do  you  not 
feel  that  it  is  enough  to  induce  you  to  exert 
yourself  in  his  behalf,  that  he  has  dangers  and 
trials  always  incident  to  spiritual  infancy,  and 
is  as  yet  without  that  experience  and  those  at- 
tainments which  the  advanced  Christian  pos- 
sesses ?  Now  the  graces  of  all  converts  are  in 
like  manner  as  yet  untried,  and  less  developed 
than  those  of  older  believers,  and  on  this  ac- 
count they  all  have  wants,  the  neglect  of  which 
must  render  their  condition  perilous.  And  this 
is  a  sufficient  reason,  even  should  no  others  be 
mentioned,  why  Christians  who  have  for  years 
been  followers  of  the  Saviour,  should  strive  to 
be  useful  to  the  Church's  converts,  should  watch 
over,  cherish,  encourage,  warn,  and  instruct 
them.  There  are,  however,  other  inducements 
of  equal  weight,  which  are,  perhaps,  less  likely 
to  be  considered. 

I.  The  Saviour  has  expressly  committed  them 
to  your  care. 

He  has  committed  them  to  your  care  by  call- 
ing them  His  brethren.  For  doubtless,  among 
others  our  blessed  Lord  will  have  them  in  His 


34  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

mind,  when  at  the  last  day  He  will  say  to 
those  on  His  right  hand — ''  Inasmuch  as  ye 
have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my 
brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me."  He  has 
committed  them  to  your  care  by  telling  you 
also  what  He  has  done  for  them.  He  tells  you 
that  He  loved  them  before  the  world  began. 
He  tells  you  that  this  love  constrained  Him  to 
die  for  them.  He  tells  you  that  He  has  for- 
given all  their  sins,  accepted  them,  and  be- 
stowed upon  them  a  title  to  everlasting  Hfe. 
That  He  will  tenderly  watch  over  them,  chas- 
tising them  when  they  wander  away  from  Him, 
and  preserving  them  from  falling  from  grace. 
That  He  will  always  intercede  for  them,  and 
will  at  last  receive  them  unto  Himself,  where 
they  will  be  where  He  is,  and  forever  behold 
His  glory.  And  then  they  will  be  perfect,  full 
of  sweetness,  purity,  and  every  excellence. 
Christ  has  committed  them  to  your  care  also, 
by  uniting  them  to  you  in  the  closest  of  bonds, 
for  as  He  has  made  you  members  of  His  body, 
so  He  has  made  them.  As  the  branch  is  one 
with  the  vine  so  are  they,  in  common  with  you, 
one  with    Christ.     It   is   as  true  of  them  that 


THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  35 

they  are  united  to  Christ  by  the  Holy  Spirit's 
indwelHng,  as  it  is  of  you.  The  Spiritual  life 
which  dwells  in  Christ,  abides  in  you  no  more 
truly  than  it  does  in  them. 

Moreover,  when  we  consider  certain  com- 
mands which  Christ  has  given  us,  we  cannot 
but  feel  that  He  has  committed  converts  to 
our  care.  He  commands  us  to  deny  ourselves 
for  the  good  of  our  brethren,  to  bear  their 
burdens,  to  place  no  stumbling-block  in  their 
way,  to  rejoice  with  them  in  their  seasons  of 
joy,  and  to  weep  with  them  in  their  times  of 
sorrow.  He  commands  us  further  to  be  kind- 
ly affectioned  to  our  brethren,  to  distribute  to 
their  necessities,  to  warn  and  admonish  them, 
to  walk  circumspectly  before  them,  to  give 
freely  to  them  of  the  things  which  we  have 
freely  received,  to  visit  them,  to  pray  for  them, 
to  avoid  everything  whereby  they  may  stum- 
ble, or  be  offended,  or  be  made  weak,  and  to 
be  especially  anxious  to  do  them  good  because 
they  are  of  the  household  of  faith.  In  laying 
these  commands  upon  us,  our  Saviour  enjoins 
it  upon  us  to  do  good  to  converts,  for  all  con- 
verts are  our  brethren. 


36  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

**  Hereby  perceive  we  the  love  of  God,"  says 
the  apostle,  ''  because  He  laid  down  His  life 
for  us  :  and  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for 
the  brethren.  But  whoso  hath  this  world's 
good,  and  seeth  his  brother  have  need,  and 
shutteth  up  his  bowels  of  compassion  from  him, 
how  dwelleth  the  love  of  God  in  him  ?  "  If  we 
prove  that  we  have  not  the  love  of  God  in  us 
when,  possessing  this  world's  goods,  we  shut 
up  our  bowels  of  compassion  from  a  fellow 
Christian  in  want  of  temporal  supplies,  how 
much  stronger  proof  do  we  furnish  of  being 
destitute  of  the  love  of  God  when  we  refuse  to 
minister  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  those  of  our 
fellow  disciples  whom  our  Saviour  calls  His 
lambs. 

2.  You  have  the  example  of  the  apostles  in 
this  thing,  and  of  the  Church's  early  laborers. 

There  are  those  who  are  willing  to  labor  to 
bring  unconverted  souls  into  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  but  who  do  not  care  about  having  any- 
thing more  to  do  with  them  afterward.  It  was 
not  so  with  the  great  apostle.  The  tempta- 
tions to  which  his  converts  were  exposed,  the 
dangers  which  surrounded   them,  their  weak- 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  Z7 

ness  of  faith  and  want  of  stability,  as  also  their 
afflictions  and  persecutions,  deeply  affected  him 
and  filled  him  with  anxiety.  To  hear  of  their 
attainments  in  knowledge  and  holiness,  or  of 
any  manifestation  on  their  part  of  love  for  the 
brethren,  or  of  docility  in  receiving  his  teach- 
ings, or  of  zeal  for  the  Master's  cause,  awakened 
within  him  the  sincerest  joy.  He  addressed 
none  of  his  letters  to  unconverted  men.  Abun- 
dant and  successful  as  were  his  labors  for  their 
salvation,  it  was  to  immature  and  inexperienced 
believers — to  converts,  that  most  of  his  letters 
were  addressed.  For  the  several  churches  of 
Corinth,  Galatia,  Philippi,  etc.,  were,  at  the  time 
of  his  composing  his  epistles  for  them,  in  the  in- 
fancy of  their  existence.  Thus  we  see  the  pains 
which  the  great  apostle  took  to  instruct  those  who 
had  but  just  begun  the  Christian  life.  Examine 
his  letters  and  see  the  fulness,  the  variety,  the 
wisdom,  and  preciousness  of  his  instructions. 

Of  what  solid  food  would  Paul's  converts 
have  been  deprived  had  he  not  written  these 
letters  to  them  ? 

We  see  the  strength  and  tenderness  of  Paul's 
love  for  his  converts  by  the  manner  in  which 


38  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

he  speaks  of  them.  He  calls  them  his  breth- 
ren, his  dearly  beloved,  his  joy  and  crown. 
The  deep  interest  which  he  continually  felt  in 
them  may  also  be  seen  in  what  is  said  of  his 
labors  for  them  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 
He  did  not  forget  those  whom  he  had  been  in- 
strumental in  converting,  but  revisited  them. 
We  are  told  that  the  hearts  of  Paul  and  Barna- 
bas yearned  over  those  who,  under  their 
preaching,  had  been  converted  in  Antioch, 
Lystra,  and  Iconium,  and  they  had  left  them 
but  a  short  time  before  they  returned  to  them 
for  the  purpose  of  building  them  up,  strength- 
ening their  faith,  comforting  them,  and  warn- 
ing them  of  what  they  had  to  expect.  The 
words  are,  '*  They  returned  again  to  Lystra, 
and  to  Iconium,  and  Antioch,  confirming  the 
souls  of  the  disciples,  and  exhorting  them 
to  continue  in  the  faith,  and  that  we  must 
through  much  tribulation  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  God." 

The  Antioch  here  mentioned  was  the  one  in 
the  province  of  Pisidia,  in  Asia  Minor.  At 
the  other  Antioch,  which  was  the  capital  of 
Syria,  and  where  the  disciples  were  first  called 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  39 

Christians,  some  of  the  brethren  had  been  very 
successful  in  preaching  the  gospel  after  they 
had  fled  to  the  place  from  Jerusalem  when  the 
persecution  began  there,  against  the  Church. 
When  the  news  of  these  conversions  came  to 
the  Church  which  was  in  Jerusalem  they  sent 
Barnabas  to  visit  the  new  believers  of  Antioch. 
'*  Who,  when  he  came,  and  had  seen  the  grace 
of  God,  was  glad,  and  exhorted  them  all,  that 
with  purpose  of  heart  they  would  cleave  unto 
the  Lord."  Thus  it  was  that  the  new  converts 
were  remembered.  Thus  it  was  that  they  were 
visited  and  encouraged. 

We  also  should  remember  the  immense  ben- 
efit which  converts  are  capable  of  receiving 
from  labors  put  forth  for  their  good,  and  we 
should  imitate  the  example  of  Christ's  ser- 
vants who  lived  in  apostolic  times.  In  all  ages 
and  times,  young  disciples  have  peculiar  trials 
and  dangers  and  difficulties,  and  piety  must 
always  be  progressive  in  its  nature.  It  is 
therefore  the  duty  of  Christ's  people  at  the 
present  day,  as  well  as  in  former  times,  to  con- 
firm the  souls  of  those  whose  Christian  life  has 
but  just  commenced. 


40  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

3.  Almost  all  converts  are  sadly  neglected. 

Should  one  on  whom  all  eyes  are  fastened,  a 
man  of  great  ability  and  influence,  and  occupy- 
ing a  distinguished  position  in  the  counsels  of 
the  nation,  become  a  Christian,  and  should  it 
everywhere  be  known  that  he  has  professed  to 
be  a  disciple  of  Christ,  not  a  few  of  the  people 
of  God  would  earnestly  pray  that  he  might  be 
steadfast.  His  growth  in  Christian  excellence 
would  be  intensely  desired.  He  would  be 
watched,  and  any  indication  of  his  progress  in 
goodness,  in  zeal  for  God's  glory,  in  solicitude 
for  the  Church's  advancement,  and  for  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  men  would  be  hailed  with 
joy.  Many  Christians  would  intercede  for  him 
that  he  might  be  strengthened  to  resist  tempta- 
tions to  worldliness,  and  might  be  a  helper  to 
Zion's  laborers,  and  of  great  service  to  the  Re- 
deemer's cause.  All  this  would  be  natural. 
It  would  be  strange  indeed  if  God's  people 
should  not  have  their  attention  especially  called 
to  a  convert  of  this  description,  one  filling  a 
conspicuous  position,  and  pre-eminent  for  his 
gifts  and  his  influence. 

There  have  been  instances  in  which  a  power- 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  41 

ful  ruler  of  some  heathen  people — one  having 
his  mind  full  of  heathen  prejudices  against  the 
Christian  religion  has  become  a  convert  to  the 
faith,  and  has  apparently  become  a  humble 
Christian  ;  and  when  such  an  event  has  occurred, 
thanksgiving  and  praise  have  ascended  from 
the  hearts  of  a  multitude  of  behevers.  They 
have  felt  a  deep  interest  in  his  spiritual  condi- 
tion. Now  it  is  freely  admitted  that  such  con- 
verts are  the  objects  of  the  love  of  the  blessed 
Saviour,  and  that  the  angels  of  Heaven  rejoice 
over  their  repentance.  But  does  the  blessed  Re- 
deemer, and  do  the  angels  make  that  difference 
which  we  make,  between  the  conversion  of  such 
and  the  conversion  of  persons  of  more  obscure 
position  ?  When  any  immortal  soul  becomes, 
as  we  have  reason  to  believe,  an  heir  of  glory, 
the  event  should  deeply  affect  us.  The  most 
lively  interest  should  be  felt  in  every  newly  re- 
generated soul,  whatever  his  station  in  life.- 

And  yet  souls  are  constantly  delivered  from 
the  power  of  darkness,  and  translated  into  the 
kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son,  in  whom  scarcely 
any  interest  is  taken,  and  for  whose  spiritual 
good  such  little  effort  is  put  forth,  that  we  may 


42  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

justly  speak  of  them  as  neglected  converts. 
We  fear  it  is  true  of  almost  all  who  become  the 
disciples  of  Jesus,  that  they  have  no  one  to 
begin  immediately  to  care  for  their  spiritual 
progress.  Seeing  then  that  so  few  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  are  faithful  to  the  new  disci- 
ples who  have  entered  her  fold,  let  them  have 
the  benefit  of  your  prayers,  and  of  whatever 
other  efforts  you  can  make  to  advance  them  in 
the  blessed  life  which  they  have  begun  to  live. 
Do  not  imitate  those  who  expend  all  their  in- 
terest and  efforts  on  converts  of  conspicuous 
station,  while  they  feel  far  less  concern  for  the 
numerous  converts  of  inferior  position  and  in- 
fluence. 

4.  You  should  feel  the  deepest  interest  in  all 
those  recefitly  born  from  above ^  when  you  con- 
sider that  they  are  living  in  a  world  in  zvhich 
all  their  relatioiis  of  a  spiritual  nature  are  new 
to  them. 

We  know  the  relation  of  hostility  which  all 
converts  alike  sustained,  until  within  a  short 
time,  to  the  law  of  God,  to  God  Himself,  to  the 
blessed  Jesus,  and  to  Christ's  Church  and  peo- 
ple ;  and  the  friendly  terms  on  which  they  all 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  43 

Stood  to  the  world,  and  to  the  entire  kingdom 
which  is  opposed  to  the  Saviour's  kingdom. 
Until  recently  they  were  all  under  God's  dis- 
pleasure (for  they  that  are  in  the  flesh  cannot 
please  God),  and  were  also  God's  enemies. 
They  every  day  rejected  Christ.  Not  being  for 
Him,  they  were  against  Him.  They  always 
resisted  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  blessed  Spirit 
was  neither  their  Teacher,  Comforter,  nor 
Sanctifier.  They  were  Satan's  subjects,  were 
members  of  that  empire  which  is  at  war  with 
the  Church,  and  so  they  were  the  Church's  ene- 
mies. We  who  now  recognize  them  as  our 
brethren  are  compelled  to  acknowledge  that 
until  recently  this  was  their  attitude  to  holy 
persons  and  things,  just  as  once  it  was  ours. 
Only  a  short  time  has  passed  since  all  these  re- 
lations on  their  part  to  the  spiritual  world  have 
changed.  It  is  a  new  thing  to  them  to  be  ac- 
counted the  children  of  God.  To  be  free  from 
the  unchallenged  and  unceasing  dominion  of 
sin,  to  be  free  from  the  law's  dreadful  curse,  to, 
be  heirs  of  glory,  possessed  of  a  title  to  eternal 
life,  to  be  disenthralled  from  Satan's  bondage, 
to  be  members  of  Christ,  and  of  His   blood- 


44  THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

bought  Church,  to  be  the  loving  and  beloved 
brethren  of  all  Christians,  all  this  is  new  to 
them.  And  is  there  nothing  in  all  this  which 
is  fitted  to  awaken  your  deepest  interest  in  the 
Church's  converts — in  all  her  converts? 

A  change  having  taken  place  in  their  rela- 
tion to  God  and  to  His  law,  they  have  under- 
gone a  change  in  their  inward  character.  Up 
to  a  very  late  period  of  their  history  they  were 
in  character  completely  separated  from  God 
and  from  heaven's  holy  inhabitants,  but,  during 
the  few  days,  or  weeks,  or  months  in  which 
they  have  been  believers  in  Jesus,  God,  the 
angels,  and  all  perfectly  holy  beings  have  been 
able  to  look  upon  their  inward  character  with 
the  love  of  complacency.  Being  now  in  some 
degree  holy  they  have  new,  and  fresh,  and  joy- 
ful views  of  God,  of  Christ,  of  the  gospel,  and 
of  the  life  to  come,  and  their  hearts  are  the 
home  of  all  gracious  affections. 

5.  Of  some  converts  it  may  be  said  with  truth 
that  the  work  of  endeavoring  to  benefit  them  is 
pleasant  in  itself^  and  the  probability  of  success 
is  most  encouraging. 

It  is  pleasant  in  the  case  of  some,  because 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  45 

when  you  approach  them  they  meet  you  with- 
out any  restraint  of  manner,  with  a  delightful 
whole-heartedness,  and,  at  the  moment  when 
they  are  in  all  the  freshness  of  their  first  love. 
They  are  living  in  a  world  which  is  new  to 
them.  They  enjoy  a  sweet  rest  of  soul.  The 
Lord  is  dealing  tenderly  with  them.  They 
have  not,  as  yet,  found  anything  irksome  or 
burdensome  in  religious  duties.  They  meet 
you  promptly  and  affectionately,  and  your  heart 
warms  toward  them,  and  the  last  thing  you 
think  of  is  that  efforts  to  warn,  or  encourage,  or 
guide  them,  are  going  to  be  painful.  Your 
work  is  not  only  pleasant,  but  it  is  likely  to  be 
successful,  provided  you  are  judicious,  cau- 
tious, and  persevering.  For  you  will  meet 
with  few  of  those  difficulties  which  are  very 
often  encountered  by  the  faithful  minister,  or 
private  church  member  who  seeks  to  help  older 
professors  of  religion.  For  when  some  among 
them  are  conversed  with,  It  is  found  that  they 
are  depressed  and  weakened  by  discouraging 
remembrances  of  broken  resolutions  and  past 
failures.  The  convert  knows  nothing  of  this. 
He  is  hopeful,  though  this  may,  in  part,   be 


46  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

owing  to  his  ignorance  of  the  trials  and  dan- 
gers which  are  before  him.  But  it  is  by  no 
means  necessary  that  he  should  sink  under 
these  when  called  to  contend  with  them.  If  he 
begins  his  Christian  life  as  he  ought  to  begin  it, 
that  of  itself  will  greatly  promote  his  real  prog- 
ress. Expect  success  then  in  your  endeavors 
to  be  of  service  to  Christ's  young  disciples,  and 
you  will  not  be  disappointed. 

6.  Many  converts  had  but  little  religious  in- 
struction in  early  life. 

The  superior  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures, 
which  some  Christians  possess,  is  due,  in  almost 
all  cases,  to  the  fact  that  they  were  carefully 
taught  the  truth  of  God  in  childhood  and 
youth.  In  consequence  of  having  been  thus 
early  instructed,  they  knew  much  about  the 
Bible  even  before  they  were  regenerated. 
They  had  clear  views  of  the  plan  of  salvation, 
of  the  nature  of  Christ's  work,  and  of  the  na- 
ture and  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  They  had 
some  understanding  of  the  manner  in  which  we 
are  made  partakers  of  the  redemption  pur- 
chased by  Christ.  They  comprehended  very 
much  of  the  system  of  truth  as  it  is  contained 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS,  47 

in  the  Word  of  God.  This  knowledge,  how- 
ever, as  long  as  it  was  only  speculative,  could 
not  save  them,  but,  as  soon  as  they  were  re- 
generated, they  immediately  had  a  spiritual 
perception  of  the  divine  beauty  and  glory  of 
the  truth,  already  lodged  in  their  minds, 
founded  on  the  Holy  Spirit's  illumination,  and 
thus  the  truth  began  to  bring  forth  the  fruits  of 
holiness  in  their  lives.  They  also  began  to 
thirst  for  further  divine  knowledge,  and  to 
make  earnest  efforts  to  attain  it.  In  this  man- 
ner, as  was  said,  is  to  be  explained  the  superior 
knowledge  of  the  truth  which  some  Christians 
possess.  T/iej/  were  carefully  instructed  in 
early  life. 

But  it  may  be  that  many  converts,  who  are 
within  the  reach  of  your  influence,  had  been, 
up  to  the  time  of  their  regeneration,  without 
such  instruction.  Since  they,  also,  are  now  the 
subjects  of  God's  grace,  and  are  enlightened  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  it  is  to  be  supposed,  indeed, 
that  they,  likewise,  will  have  a  sincere  desire 
for  further  knowledge  of  the  things  which  God 
has  revealed,  but,  in  consequence  of  their  lack 
of  early  instruction,  you  find  them  exceedingly 


4S  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

ignorant.  You  would  have  to  say,  it  may  be,  of 
many  of  them,  what  Baxter  wrote  concerning 
some  who  attended  upon  his  ministry,  who  had 
not  been  taught  the  system  of  truth  when  they 
were  young.  He  says  :  *'  I  am  daily  forced  to 
admit  how  lamentably  ignorant  many  of  our 
people  are  that  have  seemed  diligent  hearers  of 
me  these  ten  or  twelve  years,  while  I  spoke  as 
plainly  as  I  was  able  to  speak.  Some  know 
not  that  each  person  in  the  Trinity  is  God  ; 
nor  that  Christ  is  God  and  man  ;  nor  that  He 
took  His  human  nature  into  heaven  ;  nor  many 
the  like  necessary  principles  of  our  faith." 
Seeing,  then,  there  are  many  converts  of  this 
description,  who  need  to  have  their  sad  want 
of  early  rehglous  instruction  made  up  to  them, 
what  a  motive  you  have  to  cultivate  the  habit 
of  striving  to  do  good  to  all  believers  within 
your  reach,  who  are  young  in  the  Christian  life. 

7.  Many  suffer  great  loss  in  consequence  of 
their  slowness  to  disclose  their  conflicts  ajtd  dif- 
ficulties. 

Many  converts  have  but  a  trembling  hope 
of  their  own  acceptance.  Their  faith  and  hope 
are   not  sufficiently  strong   to   exclude  painful 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  49 

anxieties  about  their  spiritual  state.  Others 
enjoy  a  comfortable  hope  that  their  salvation 
is  really  begun,  who  hav^e  perplexities  which 
they  are  not  able  to  dismiss  from  their  minds 
about  the  teachings  of  the  Bible  concerning 
certain  doctrines.  Others  are  sorely  tried  by 
doubts  as  to  how  they  should  act  in  the  pecu- 
liar circumstances  in  which  they  are  placed. 
And  still  others  often  find  it  difficult  to  resist 
the  temptation  to  indulge  in  practices  lawful  in 
themselves,  but  which  in  their  case  would  be 
sinful,  the  lawfulness  of  such  practices  not  be- 
ing to  their  minds  clear.  Now  it  is  of  the  ut- 
most importance  that  young  believers,  who  have 
such  inward  difficulties  and  struggles,  should 
not  keep  them  locked  up  in  their  own  bosoms, 
but  should  disclose  them.  It  is  possible  for 
them  to  be  aided  by  the  counsels  and  instruc- 
tions of  their  more  experienced  brethren.  In 
order,  however,  that  they  may  be  encouraged 
to  disclose  their  trials,  they  must  see  a  readi- 
ness in  their  fellow  church-members  to  help 
them.  They  should  be  urged,  in  a  spirit  of 
love,  to  make  their  conflicts  known.  Their  re- 
luctance to  speak  of  their  inward  troubles 
3 


50  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

might  be  overcome  by  a  little  solicitation,  pro- 
vided you  use  the  tact  which  is  necessary  for 
the  right  performance  of  so  delicate  a  duty,  for 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  attempt  to  benefit 
men  by  such  approaches  to  them  is  a  delicate 
one.  *'  The  reserve  which  most  people  feel  in 
reference  to  laying  bare  their  inmost  thoughts, 
the  painful  burden  borne  in  silence  often  so 
long,  the  shrinking  from  observation,  the  Nico- 
demus-like  approach  of  many  souls  to  Christ 
for  light,  ought  to  instruct  us  to  walk  softly 
here."  Still,  you  need  not  be  deterred  from 
the  attempt  to  win  the  confidence  even  of  the 
most  sensitive,  if  you  are  actuated  by  the  sin- 
cerest  love  for  them,  and  if  God  gives  you  wis- 
dom, which  he  will  give  you,  in  answer  to 
prayer.  Let  it  be  your  habit,  then,  to  give  at- 
tention to  the  needs  of  converts,  for  you  may 
then  frequently  enjoy  opportunities  of  encour- 
aging them  to  disclose  their  doubts  and  strug- 
gles of  mind  instead  of  concealing  them  to  their 
own  injury. 

Should  you  succeed  in  winning  their  confi- 
dence, and  should  you  really  be  helpful  to 
them,  you  yourself  will   receive  benefit.     You 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  5 1 

will  have  the  comfort  of  knowing  that  you  have 
done  good  to  some,  who,  but  for  you,  would 
probably  have  been  entirely  neglected.  The 
Saviour  will  bestow  upon  you  the  reward  which 
He  reserves  for  those  who  care  for,  and  feed 
— "the  little  ones" — the  lambs  of  His  flock, 
for  He  numbers  converts  among  the  little  ones 
who  believe  on  Him.  You  will  learn  much 
concerning  the  forbearance,  mercy,  patience, 
and  compassion  of  Christ  for  those  whom  He 
came  to  seek  and  to  save.  These  precious 
words  will  often  be  present  to  your  mind  : 
"  He  shall  feed  His  flock  like  a  shepherd  ;  He 
shall  gather  the  lambs  with  His  arm,  and  carry 
them  in  His  bosom,  and  shall  gently  lead  those 
that  are  with  young."  Moreover,  the  very 
truths  with  which  you  seek  to  enlighten  and 
strengthen  the  untaught  and  inexperienced 
young  Christian  will  be  promotive  of  your  own 
spiritual  good.  They  will  come  home  to  your 
own  heart  with  power. 

8.  One  reason  why  so  many  prof  essing  Chris- 
tians imbibe  htcrtful  errors  is  that  so  little  at- 
tention was  paid  to  them  whefi  they  were  con- 
verts. 


52  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

There  is  no  denying  the  fact  that  many  who 
were  hopefully  converted  fail  to  abide  stead- 
fastly in  the  truth.  They  may  not  speedily, 
after  professing  Christ,  forsake  the  truths  they 
had  engaged  and  expected  always  to  revere 
and  obey,  but  the  time  arrives  when  important 
doctrines,  after  becoming  gradually  less  esteemed, 
are  finally  given  up,  while  erroneous  views  are 
embraced  and  zealously  advocated.  This  might 
have  been  prevented  had  they  been  from  the 
beginning  really  under  the  Church's  care — had 
they  been  faithfully  warned,  instructed,  guard- 
ed, counselled,  and  prayed  for.  But  while  the 
Church  neglects  her  converts,  Satan  is  not  in- 
active. "  Nor  can  any  human  faculty  perceive 
the  precise  mode  in  which  falsehood  will  be 
presented  by  a  wily  foe.  Sometimes  it  is  the 
vehicle  which  is  attractive.  It  may,  for  exam- 
ple, be  elegant  style,  it  may  be  romance,  it  may 
be  closely-knit  argumentation,  it  may  be  popu- 
lar eloquence.  The  union  of  several  such  fas- 
cinations may  invite  the  youth  to  taste  the 
poisonous  clusters,  and  acquire  a  fondness  for 
doubts  and  cavils.  The  name  and  fame  of  some 
great  heretical  preacher  summons  numbers  of 


THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  S3 

half-instrupted  people  who  admire,  and  acqui- 
esce, and  go  again,  not  knowing  that  the  new 
doctrines  which  they  drink  in  will  presently  un- 
settle the  religious  belief  of  their  childhood. 
Among  the  multitude  of  books,  pubhc  journals, 
orations,  lectures,  poems,  and  common  talk,  in 
which  we  live,  there  are  every  day  some  which 
propose  unscriptural,  and  even  anti-Christian 
opinions.  There  are  many  who  read  abun- 
dance of  books,  but  among  them  so  little  of 
Christian  theology  that  they  do  not  recognize 
the  erroneous  sentiments  of  unsound  systems, 
if  offered  to  them  with  prettiness  of  diction, 
pretension  to  philosophy,  cant  phrases,  and  the 
rounded  voice  of  a  popular  lecturer.  These 
false  teachings  often  begin  far  away  from  the 
point  at  which  they  really  aim." 

Let  the  convert  be  warned  in  time.  Let  him 
be  earnestly  admonished.  Let  him  be  ex- 
horted to  continue  in  the  faith — to  hold  fast  his 
profession.  Let  him  be  cautioned  against  fall- 
ing into  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  when 
one  is  truly  converted,  any  great  deception  in 
reference  to  spiritual  things  is  henceforth  im- 
possible.    Let  him  be  reminded  of  the  frequent 


54  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS. 

warnings  against  this  very  peril,  addressed  by 
Christ  and  His  apostles  even  to  true  disciples, 
warnings  full  of  meaning  and  power  :  *'  Take 
heed  lest  any  man  deceive  you."  "  Be  not  de- 
ceived." *' Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth 
take  heed  lest  he  fall."  '*  Let  no  man  deceive 
you  with  vain  words."  ''If  there  come  any 
unto  you,  and  bring  not  this  doctrine,  receive 
him  not  into  your  house,  neither  bid  him  God 
speed  :  for  he  that  biddeth  him  God  speed,  is 
partaker  of  his  evil  deeds."  Let  him  be  taught 
"that  the  new  convert  whose  appetite  often 
surpasses  his  power  of  discernment,  is  singu- 
larly liable  to  be  duped  by  error,"  and  that 
salutary  fear  of  this  folly  is  often  the  means  of 
preventing  it. 

9.  Many  converts  might  be  saved  from  wan- 
dering from  the  fold,  and  from  loiig- continued 
decline y  were  they  not  so  sadly  neglected. 

A  regenerated  person  may  begin  to  grow  in 
grace  from  the  very  start,  and  he  may  make  no 
mean  attainments,  and  yet  he  may  not  con- 
tinue to  advance  long.  He  may  never  have 
thoroughly  learned  that,  although  God  works 
in  the  believer  to  will  and  to  do,   yet  the  be-. 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS,  55 

liever  is,  with  fear  and  trembling,  to  work  out 
his  own  salvation.  Or,  if  at  first  ahve  to  the 
necessity  of  diligence,  his  conviction  of  its  ne- 
cessity may  gradually  be  blunted,  and  less  and 
less  realized,  in  consequence  of  his  increasing 
attachment  to  the  world. 

Many  of  God's  people  begin  to  decline  even 
in  the  early  part  of  their  Christian  course,  and, 
as  a  consequence  of  this,  live  and  die  without 
making  those  attainments  in  holiness,  which  it 
is  in  the  power  of  all  to  make  who  are  con- 
stantly watchful,  and  who  are  active,  energetic, 
and  unwearied  in  using  the  means  of  grace. 
The  following,  which  we  quote  from  Dr.  Alex- 
ander's work,  ''Thoughts  on  Rehgious  Experi- 
ence," well  describes  the  downward  course  of 
many  believers,  who,  at  first,  give  promise  of 
uninterrupted  progress  : 

"The  young  convert's  love  to  the  Saviour, 
and  to  the  saints,  is  fresh  and  fervent,  and  his 
religious  zeal,  though  not  well  regulated  by 
knowledge,  is  ardent.  He  often  puts  older  dis- 
ciples to  the  blush  by  the  warmth  of  his  affec- 
tions, and  his  alacrity  in  the  service  of  his  Re- 
deemer.    This  is,  indeed,  the  season  of  his  first 


56  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

love,  which  began  to  flow  in  the  day  of  his 
espousals ;  and  though,  occasionally,  dark 
clouds  intercept  his  views,  these  are  soon  for- 
gotten, when  the  clear  sunshine  breaks  forth  to 
cheer  him  on  his  way.  During  this  period  he 
delights  in  social  exercises,  especially  in  com- 
munion with  those  of  his  own  age,  and  in 
prayer,  and  in  praise  and  in  spiritual  conversa- 
tion. His  heart  is  lifted  up  to  heaven,  and  he 
longs  for  the  time  when  he  may  join  the  songs 
of  the  upper  temple.  But  ere  long  the  scene 
changes.  Gradually  the  glow  of  fervent  affec- 
tions subsides.  Worldly  pursuits,  even  the 
most  lawful  and  necessary,  steal  away  the 
heart ;  and  various  perplexing  entanglements 
beset  the  inexperienced  traveller.  He  begins  to 
see  that  there  were  many  things  faulty  in  his 
early  course.  He  blames  his  own  weakness  or 
enthusiasm  ;  and  in  avoiding  one  extreme  he 
easily  falls  into  the  opposite,  to  which  human 
nature  has  a  strong  bias.  He  enters  into  more 
intercourse  with  the  world,  and,  of  course,  im- 
bibes insensibly  some  portion  of  its  spirit. 
This  has  a  deadening  effect  on  his  religious 
feelings ;  and  his  devotions  are  less  fervent  and 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  5/ 

less  punctual ;  and  far  more  interrupted  with 
vain,  wondering  thoughts,  than  before  ;  and  he 
is  apt  to  fall  into  a  hasty  or  formal  attendance 
on  the  daily  duties  of  the  closet ;  and  a  little 
matter  will  sometimes  lead  him  to  neglect  these 
precious  seasons  of  grace.  A  strange  forget- 
fulness  of  the  presence  of  God,  and  of  his  ac- 
countableness  for  every  thought,  word,  and 
action  seizes  upon  him.  Close  self-examination 
becomes  painful,  and  when  attempted,  is  un- 
successful. New  evils  begin  to  appear  spring- 
ing up  in  the  heart.  The  imagination,  before 
he  is  aware,  is  filled  with  sensual  imagery, 
which  affording  carnal  pleasure,  the  train  of  his 
thoughts  is  with  difficulty  changed.  Envy,  un- 
due indulgence  of  the  appetites,  love  of  riches, 
fondness  for  dress  and  show,  the  love  of  ease, 
aversion  to  spiritual  duties,  with  numerous 
similar  and  nameless  evils,  are  now  bred  in  the 
heart,  and  come  forth  to  annoy  and  retard  the 
Christian  in  his  course.  His  pride  makes  him 
unwilling  to  open  his  ear  to  friendly  and  frater- 
nal reproof;  such  words  fall  heavily  on  him, 
and  wound  his  morbid  sensibility,  so  that  a 
conflict  takes  place  between   a  sense  of  duty 


58  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

and  unmortified  pride.  If,  in  this  conflict, 
pride  should  gain  the  victory,  alas,  how  much 
sin  follows  in  its  train — resentment  toward  a 
kind  brother,  hypocrisy  in  concealing  the  real 
dictates  of  conscience,  and  a  neglect  of  all 
efforts  at  improvement.  The  person  thus  cir- 
cumstanced, is  instinctively  led  to  endeavor  to 
persuade  himself  that  he  has  done  right.  Still, 
however,  the  language  of  his  better  part  is  that 
of  self-condemnation.  But  he  hushes  it  up, 
and  assumes  an  air  of  innocence  and  boldness, 
and  thus  the  Spirit  is  grieved.  Who  can  de- 
scribe the  train  of  evils  which  ensue,  on  one 
defeat  of  this  kind  ?  The  mind  becomes  dark 
and  desolate  ;  communion  with  God  is  inter- 
rupted, and  a  course  of  backsliding  commences, 
which  sometimes  goes  on  for  years,  and  then 
the  wanderer  is  not  arrested  and  brought  back 
without  severe  chastisement."  Cases  of  spirit- 
ual declension  are  so  common  that  some  have 
thought  there  is  no  way  of  avoiding  the  evil. 
This  is  going  too  far,  but  certainly  the  danger 
of  declining  and  even  of  backsliding  is  very 
great,  and  the  greatest  pains  should  be  taken 
to  put  the  new  disciple  on   his  guard.      Use 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS,  59 

every  means,  therefore,  to  save  the  convert 
from  so  terrible  an  evil.  Fix  one  thought 
deeply  in  his  mind  :  that  there  is  no  standing 
still— that  to  fail  in  making  progress,  is  to  go 
backward. 

10.  Yoii  may  be  the  means  of  the  conversion 
of  self-deceived  converts. 

Our  Saviour  teaches  us,  in  His  parable  of  the 
sower,  that  many  hear  the  word  with  attention, 
and  even  feel  the  power  of  the  truth  delivered. 
It  make's  an  impression  on  them.  They  are 
not  wayside  hearers.  They  exercise  a  certain 
kind  of  faith.  Their  faith,  however,  is  not  that 
which  saves,  it  is  not  genuine.  It  differs  from 
spiritual  discernment.  It  does  not  perceive 
the  inherent  beauty,  sweetness,  and  glory  of 
the  truth.  It  is  founded  on  the  power  of  con- 
science, and  is,  therefore,  capable  of  producing 
temporary  obedience,  and  emboldens  those 
who  have  it,  to  connect  themselves  with  the 
Church,  but  it  does  not  work  by  love,  purify 
the  heart,  and  overcome  the  world.  Such  per- 
sons must  perish  forever,  as  truly  as  the  har- 
dened and  insensible,  unless  they  are  changed, 
and  have  eyes  given  them  from  above,  to  be- 


60  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

hold  the  divine  glory  and  loveliness  of  Jesus, 
and  unless  they  truly  come  to  Him,  look  to 
Him,  flee  to  Him,  and  rest  upon  Him  alone  for 
their  salvation.  It  is  just  as  great  and  blessed  a 
thing  to  save  such  self-deceived  converts,  as  it 
is  to  save  those  who  make  no  pretension  to  re- 
ligion. But,  if  you  are  in  the  habit  of  exerting 
yourself  to  benefit  the  new  disciples  within 
your  reach,  it  may  so  happen  that,  without 
your  knowing  or  designing  it,  you  will  be  the 
means  of  saving  such  apparent  converts^  They 
may  be  enlightened  to  see,  they  may  be 
brought  to  feel  that  the  words  of  instruction, 
or  encouragement  or  exhortation  with  which 
you  address  them,  are  not  applicable  to  them, 
and  they,  seeing  and  feeling  this,  your  words 
may  alarm  and  awaken  them.  And,  while 
they  are  anxious  not  to  be  again  deceived,  the 
work  wrought  in  them  may  be  thorough,  and 
their  repentance  may  be  one  not  to  be  re- 
pented of.  How  many  self-deceived  professors 
might  be  enlightened  to  see  their  true  condition, 
and  be  saved,  did  all  church  members  faithfully 
fulfil  their  engagement  to  watch  over  each  other, 
and  to  seek  each  other's  spiritual  well-being. 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  6 1 

1 1 .  If  you  are  histriimental  in  promoting  the 
spiritual  good  of  converts y  you  zvill  be  the  means 
of  promoting  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  Church. 

Is  it  through  the  conversion  of  souls  unto 
Jesus  that  the  Church  increases  in  life  and 
power  ?  Yes,  but  not  in  that  way  alone.  She 
also  advances  and  prospers  by  the  growth  in 
holiness  of  those  whose  salvation  is  already  be- 
gun, of  those  who  are  already  within  her  pale, 
and  belong  to  her.  This  is  one  reason  why 
the  increasing  spirituaUty  of  a  single  believer 
always  filled  the  great  apostle  with  joy.  The 
spiritual  prosperity  of  any  disciple,  for  whose 
welfare  he  labored,  filled  him  with  exultation, 
not  only  because  of  his  love  for  that  disciple, 
but  because  he  knew  that  thereby  the  entire 
Church  received  an  accession  of  strength.  He 
knew  that  the  Church,  like  the  human  body,  is 
one  organic  whole,  and  that  as  a  consequence  of 
this  the  religious  advancement  of  the  humblest 
believer  tends  to  the  symmetry  and  perfection 
of  the  entire  Church.  Think  of  this  truth  with 
comfort,  whenever  you  hope  that  you  have 
been  instrumental  in  helping  a  fellow  Christian 
— yes,  a  convert,  whose  spiritual  necessities  ap- 


62  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

pealed  to  your  Christian  love  for  assistance. 
As  no  Christian  can  grow  in  grace  without 
thereby  adding  in  some  little  degree  to  the  in- 
ward strength  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on 
earth,  while  he  at  the  same  time  weakens  the 
kingdom  of  Satan,  so,  whoever  aids  a  Chris- 
tian to  grow  in  grace,  is  thereby  useful  to  the 
whole  Church. 

The  inducements  presented  in  this  chapter  to 
aid  the  Saviour's  converts  should  surely  have 
weight  with  all  who  attentively  consider  them. 
Those  who,  tenderly  alive  to  their  condition 
and  needs,  have  persevered  in  efforts  to  do 
them  good,  have  been  among  Christ's  most 
useful  servants.  An  eminently  holy  and  suc- 
cessful minister  of  the  gospel  in  giving  some 
account  of  the  zeal  and  activity  oi  a  church 
member,  says  of  him  :   "It  pleased  a  gracious 

God,  about  the  year ,  to  revive  religion  with 

extraordinary  power  in  all  the  country  around 
where  he  lived.  It  was  what  he  had  prayed 
for  night  and  day,  but  scarcely  hoped  to  see, 
for  he  had  never  before  witnessed  what  is  called 
a  revival.  Almost  his  whole  time  was  now 
spent   in   conversing   with   the   new   converts. 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  ^l 

He  would  labor  with  them  in  the  most  earnest 
and  affectionate  manner,  and  would  bring  to 
them  suitable  books,  for  he  was  much  conver- 
sant with  the  most  spiritual  and  experimental 
authors,  and  many  young  disciples  were  deeply 
^indebted  to  his  faithful  labors." 

That  you,  reader,  may  be  prepared  to  engage 
in  so  blessed  a  work,  keep  your  own  soul  in  a 
state  of  nearness  to  God  and  of  spiritual  pros- 
perity. Speak  often  to  your  fellow  Christians 
about  the  needs  of  converts.  Learn  all  you 
can  from  a  survey  of  your  own  earliest  experi- 
ences about  their  dangers  and  wants. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOME  OF  THE  DOCTRINAL  TRUTHS  WHICH  THE  CON- 
VERT SHOULD  BE  ASSISTED  TO  APPREHEND  CLEAR- 
L  F,  IN  ORDER  THA  T  HE  MAY  HA  VE  A  HE  A  L  THY  RE- 
LIGIOUS EXPERIENCE,  AND  ALSO    GROW  IN  GRACE. 

WE  cannot  take  the  place  of  God  in  do- 
ing good  to  converts.  We  cannot  exert 
that  influence  upon  them  which  it  belongs  to 
the  Holy  Spirit  alone  to  exert — a  supernatural 
influence.  The  Spirit  of  God  is  able  to  dwell 
within  their  hearts,  controlling  and  guiding,  by 
His  divine  power,  their  inward  exercises  and 
outward  conduct,  until  He  brings  them  at  last 
to  the  purity  and  blessedness  of  heaven.  We 
cannot  thus  work  within  them.  Neither  are  we 
able  to  do  for  converts  what  they  must  do  for 
themselves.  They  are  not  to  learn  and  prac- 
tise Christ's  commands  by  proxy,  nor  are  they 
in  this  manner  to  use  the  means  of  grace,  but 
each  one  is  for  himself  to  work  out  his  salva- 


THE  SAVIOUR'S    CONVERTS.  65 

tion,  and  glorify,  serve,  and  obey  the  Lord  Je- 
sus. It  is  only  as  instruments  in  the  hands  of 
God  that  we  can  do  converts  good,  and  the 
question  is,  How  can  we  instrumentally  benefit 
them  ?  Undoubtedly  by  bringing  them,  by  our 
instructions  and  in  every  other  way  in  our 
power,  to  know  and  act  upon  those  truths  which 
God  has  commanded  them  to  receive.  Some 
of  these  truths  which  should  be  taught  them  we 
iiow  proceed  to  state. 

I.  It  is  important  that  the  young  convert 
should  be  taught  that  the  feeling  or  experience 
of  conviction  of  sin  is  not  confined  to  the  awak- 
e7ied  sinner,  but  that  it  is  an  experience  which 
characterizes  every  believer. 

The  true  believer  views  the  character  of  God 
with  complacency,  loves  Him,  and  has  hope  in 
His  mercy  ;  but  these  gracious  affections  which 
spring  up  in  every  new-born  soul  do  not  drive 
away  all  conviction  of  sin.  The  Christian  who 
has  begun  to  love,  trust,  and  serve  Jesus,  still 
retains  that  part  of  conviction  at  least,  which 
consists  in  a  sense  of  sin  or  inward  pollution. 
This  feeling  he  retains  after  all  his  agitation 
and  distress,  and  fear  of  God's  wrath  have  en- 


66  THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

tirely  passed  away.  His  sense  of  sin  deepens 
and  increases  as  he  grows  in  grace.  The  Holy 
Spirit  so  enhghtens  him,  gives  him  such  a 
knowledge  of  himself  (not  all  at  once,  but  grad- 
ually), that  it  may  sometimes  seem  to  him  that 
instead  of  making  progress  in  holiness,  he  is 
becoming  more  and  more  sinful.  This  is  a 
truer  conviction  of  sin  than  that  which  belongs 
to  the  awakened  and  alarmed  sinner  who  has 
not  yet  embraced  the  offer  of  mercy.  But  the 
conviction  is  not  painful,  because  the  sorrow 
which  belongs  to  it  is  a  godly  sorrow.  It  is 
all  the  more  important  that  the  convert  should 
receive  instruction  as  to  this,  for  it  is  exten- 
sively taught  in  these  days  that  the  Christian 
should  not  be  in  this  state  of  mind — should  not 
have  such  an  experience  in  regard  to  sin,  since 
it  would  show  that  he  has  not  yet  looked  to 
Christ  for  everything,  and  received  everything 
— "has  not  passed  out  of  the  bondage  of  the 
seventh  chapter  of  Romans  into  the  sweet  hb- 
erty  of  the  eighth."  * 

*  "There  is  no  difference  between  the  experience  described 
in  Rom.  viii.  and  that  delineated  in  vii.  14-25.  The  same  con- 
flict between  grace  and  indwelling  sin  is  found  in  both  chapters. 


THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS,  6/ 

True  believers,  moreover,  have  as  vivid  a  feel- 
ing of  ill  desert  as  they  have  of  inward  pollu- 
tion. Their  conscience,  their  whole  soul  tells 
them  that  they  merit  nothing  better  than  the 
penalty  of  God's  violated  law.  It  tells  them 
this,  even  more  powerfully  than  it  did  when  in 
a  state  of  impenitency  they  were  awakened 
from  their  security  and  brought  with  alarm  to 
see  their  danger.  It  is  true  that  being  now 
united  to  Christ  they  may  have  much  peace 
and  even  joy,  but  they  can .  never  forget  that 
they  really  deserve  to  be  banished  forever  from 
God's  presence.     And   what    their   conscience 


The  person  in  the  seventh  chapter  who  is  '  sold  under  sin  ' 
(vii.  14),  and  '  serves  with  the  flesh  the  law  of  sin'  (vii.  25),  and 
cries,  '  O  wretched  man,  who  shall  deliver  me '  (vii.  24),  and  yet 
*  thanks  God,  through  Jesus  Christ,'  for  his  deliverance,  and 
'serves  with  the  mind  the  law  of  God'  (vii.  25),  belongs  to  that 
class  who  in  the  eighth  chapter  have  been  '  made  free  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death  by  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life '  (viii.  2), 
and  yet  are  exhorted  '  not  to  live  after  the  flesh '  (viii.  12),  and 
to  'mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body'  (viii.  13),  who  'have  re- 
ceived the  Spirit  of  adoption,  crying,  Abba,  Father'  (viii.  15), 
and  yet  '  groan  within  themselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to 
wit,  the  redemption  of  the  body '  (viii.  23),  and  '  with  patience 
wait  for '  sinless  perfection  and  heavenly  blessedness  (viii.  25)." — 
Dr.  Shedd's  "  Com.  on  Romans." 


68  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

and  their  whole  soul  tells  them  as  to  this,  is 
true  as  a  matter  of  fact.  Though  God's  chil- 
dren and  the  objects  of  His  love,  and  free  from 
condemnation,  they  are,  in  fact,  deserving  of 
condemnation  and  of  the  curse  which  the  law 
has  denounced  against  sin.  And  they  will,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  be  deserving  of  it  in  heaven, 
notwithstanding  they  will  in  heaven  be  perfectly 
holy  and  happy. 

When  a  saint  enters  heaven  he  enters  that 
blessed  abode  free  from  condemnation,  i.e.,  with 
his  sentence  to  eternal  death  removed,  and  with 
a  title  to  eternal  life.  This,  indeed,  he  enjoyed 
while  in  the  body,  and  abiding  on  earth  —  he 
enjoyed  it  from  the  moment  when  he  began  to 
trust  in  Jesus  to  save  him.  He  also  enters 
heaven  perfectly  holy,  not  because  he  was  per- 
fectly holy  in  this  life  (though  in  this  life  he 
was,  m  some  degree,  holy)  but  because  he  was 
made  perfect  in  holiness  at  the  moment  of 
death.  But  while  these  two  things  are  true  of 
the  believer  when  he  passes  into  glory,  it  is  not 
true  of  him  that  he  passes  into  glory  deserving 
any  blessing  whatever.  He  is  ill  deserving  as 
he  enters  heaven,  and  will  be  so  forever ;  nor 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  69 

will  this  fact  ever  be  forgotten  by  him.  He 
will  never  be  weary  of  acknowledging  it  as  he 
ascribes  praise  and  glory  to  Him  that  sits  on 
the  throne,  and  to  the  Lamb  at  His"  right  hand. 
It  is  not  possible  ever  to  take  away  the  ill  de- 
sert of  one  who  has  sinned. 

Most  persons  believe  that  our  first  parents 
were  saved.  Now  when  Adam  disobeyed  the 
command  of  God,  and  ate  the  forbidden  fruit, 
perfectly  aware  at  the  time  that  he  was  dis- 
obeying God  and  was  involving  himself  and  his 
posterity  in  ruin,  he  had  immediately  a  sense  of 
his  own  ill  desert,  of  his  desert  of  punishment. 
But  did  he  lose  that  sense  of  demerit  when  he 
became  a  penitent  and  when,  by  faith,  he  re- 
ceived the  seed  of  the  woman  as  his  deliverer 
and  Saviour  ?  Not  at  all.  -Though  peace 
came  to  his  soul,  yet  he  well  knew  and  deeply 
felt  that  he  richly  merited  death,  spiritual  and 
eternal.  And  now  that  he  is  as  holy  and 
happy  as  he  was  when  first  created  in  Eden, 
does  he  not  feel,  with  overflowing  gratitude  to 
the  Son  of  God  his  Saviour,  that  he  enjoys 
what  he  by  no  means  deserves  to  enjoy  ?  As- 
suredly he  does. 


70  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

If  when  one  becomes  a  convert  his  mind 
could  be  freed  from  confusion  in  regard  to  this 
matter,  it  might  prevent  him  from  receiving 
injury  from  erroneous  teaching,  and  it  might 
save  him  from  having  a  morbid  rehgious  ex- 
perience. 

2.  We  shall  be  of  the  greatest  service  to  our 
young  brethren  in  Christ  if  we  can  be  the 
means  of  their  obtaining,  and  also  of  their  re- 
taining clear  views  of  that  new  relation  {in- 
volved in  their  justification)  which  all  true  be- 
lievers sustain  to  the  lazv. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  things  which  beHev- 
ers  have  to  do,  is  to  learn  to  exercise  a  steady- 
unshaken  confidence  in  the  doctrine  of  gratui- 
tous pardon,  and  yet  the  possession  and  exer- 
cise of  this  confidence  is  indispensable,  in  order 
that  there  may  be  real  advancement  in  piety. 
It  is  the  same  thing  as  to  clearly  see  the  truth 
that  the  believer's  relation  to  the  law  is  changed 
—  that  he  is  justified  freely  by  God's  grace -^ 
that  he  is  pardoned  and  accepted  as  righteous 
without  being  obliged  to  render  a  satisfaction  to 
the  law  in  his  own  person.  To  see  and  practi- 
cally to  beheve  the  truth,  moment  by  moment, 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  yi 

that  our  relation  to  the  law  is  changed  ;  so 
changed  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  in  order  to 
our  pardon  and  acceptance — that  we  have  only 
to  receive  pardon  and  acceptance  gratefully,  as 
a  free  gift,  is,  we  say,  difficult.  And  yet  the 
new  convert,  who  is  so  apt  to  make  much  of 
his  frames,  and  so  is  in  great  danger  of  starting 
wrong,  must  learn  the  truth,  and  learn  it  so 
thoroughly  that  it  shall  shape  his  whole  religi- 
ous life.  *'  To  preach  the  doctrine  of  free 
grace  fully,"  says  an  able  writer,  '*  without 
verging  toward  Antinomianism,  is  no  easy  task, 
and  is,  therefore,  seldom  done.  But  Christians 
cannot  but  be  lean  and  feeble  when  deprived 
of  their  proper  nutriment." 

The  apostle  in  teaching,  in  his  epistle  to  the 
Romans,  the  doctrine  of  the  believer's  justifica- 
tion through  Christ's  righteousness,  handles 
the  subject  of  his  freedom  from  the  law  separ- 
ately, and  illustrates  it  at  the  beginning  of  the 
seventh  chapter. 

Although  no  man  can  be  a  Christian  who  in- 
telligently wishes  to  be  subject  to  the  law  (as  a 
rule  of  justification)  in  all  its  strictness,  and 
who  persists  in  striving  to  merit  salvation  by 


73  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

obedience  to  it,  yet  even  the  true  Christian,  and 
who  consequently  has  no  desire  to  be  again 
under  the  law  {i.  e. ,  has  no  desire  to  be  under 
obligation  to  obey  the  law  as  the  condition  of 
obtaining  eternal  life),  has  his  times  of  conflict 
and  anxiety,  when  he  fears  to  venture  wholly 
on  Christ,  and  when  he  sinfully  looks  away 
from  Him.  At  such  times,  forgetting  that  he 
has  been  made  a  partaker  of  the  Hberty  where- 
with Christ  makes  His  people  free,  and  goaded 
by  his  conscience,  he  endeavors  to  satisfy  the 
law  and  gain  the  favor  of  God  by  meritorious 
acts,  or  by  living  a  better  Hfe.  This  causes 
him  to  carry  a  heavy  burden  and  hinders  his 
progress  in  the  divine  life.  Christians  often 
show  that  they  have  not  the  consciousness 
which  it  is  so  necessary  for  them  to  have,  of 
being  free  from  the  law  as  prescribing  the  con- 
dition on  which  eternal  life  is  to  be  gained. 
They  show  this  when  they  look  upon  their  afflic- 
tions as  a  punishment.  God  never  punishes 
His  people,  though  in  His  faithfulness  and  love 
He  often  chastises  them,  and  that  severely. 
When  believers  think  that  God  is  punishing 
them — is  sending  evils  upon  them  for  no  other 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  73 

purpose  than  to  give  them  what  they  justly  de- 
serve— they  make  it  manifest  that  they  regard 
themselves  not  as  free  from  the  law  but  as  sub- 
ject to  it.  In  the  case  of  some  Christians  the 
only  thing  which  prevents  them  from  having  an 
assurance  of  their  own  salvation  is  a  vague 
thought  which  still  lingers  within  them  that 
their  personal  conformity  to  the  law  is  the  con- 
dition of  their  obtaining  the  favor  of  God  and 
eternal  life. 

The  attention  of  the  young  Christian  should 
be  directed  to  the  fact  that  there  is  this  tendency 
to  legality  in  the  heart,  even  in  the  believer's 
heart.  *'  This  is  one  of  the  phases  of  indwell- 
ing sin.  Undoubtedly  Christians  are  kept  from 
a  high  degree  of  peace  and  joy  in  beheving, 
because  of  their  proneness  to  lose  sight  of 
Christ's  vicarious  righteousness,  and  to  trust  in 
personal  righteousness.  It  should  be  noticed, 
however,  that  the  true  beHever,  in  as  far  as  he 
discovers  this  proneness  and  inchnation,  abhors 
it.  He  desires,  above  all  things,  to  trust  in 
Christ  alone  and  perfectly,  for  justification. 
He  is  frequently,  nay  continually,  foiled  in  re- 
gard not  to  a  general  and  prevailing  trust  in 
4 


74  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

Him,  but  to  a  perfect  and  complete  trust.  He 
grieves  over  this  fact,  resists  and  fights  with 
this  inclination  to  self-righteousness  and  legality, 
and  looks  forward  to  an  eternal  rest  in  Christ, 
as  his  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  his  righteousness 
before  God.  This  lack  of  high  and  strong  faith 
which  characterizes  us  all,  is  owing  to  the  re- 
mainders of  corruption  in  us,  and  should  be 
looked  upon,  and  struggled  with,  just  as  in- 
dwelling sin  generally  should  be."  * 

Converts  cannot  too  soon  be  brought  to  un- 
derstand the  marvellous  change  which  has 
taken  place  in  their  relation  to  that  holy  law  of 
God  which  so  lately  condemned  them.  They 
cannot  too  soon  be  intelligently  assured  of  the 
truth,  that  those  sinners  who  believe  in  Jesus 
are  free  from  the  obligation  to  fulfil  the  law's 
demands  in  their  own  persons  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  eternal  life — that  those  sinners  who 
believe  in  Jesus  are  now,  ''  under  a  gracious 
dispensation  according  to  which  God  dispenses 
pardon  freely,  and  accepts  the  sinner  as  a  sin- 
ner, for  Christ's  sake,  without  works  or  merits 

*  Dr.  Shedd. 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  75 

of  his  own."  For  until  converts  are  brought 
to  see  and  understand  this  doctrine,  they  must, 
of  course,  fail  practically  to  feel  it  and  act  upon 
it,  and  then  of  what  use  can  the  blessed  Sa- 
viour be  to  them  ?  He  cannot  even  be  the 
author  of  their  sanctification,  for  instead  of  re- 
membering that  growth  in  grace  is  secured  by 
union  to  Christ,  whereby  we  partake  of  his  life, 
they  will  depend  on  their  own  strength  to  over- 
come sin.  Moreover,  as  long  as  men  are  under 
a  legal  or  slavish  spirit,  the  principle  of  obedi- 
ence in  them  is  not  love  but  fear.  They  can- 
not, therefore,  have  a  filial  spirit,  and  must  be 
utter  strangers  to  the  Christian's  happiness. 
*' Their  whole  object  is  to  propitiate  God  by 
means  which  they  know  to  be  inadequate. 
Their  spirit  is  servile,  their  religion  a  bondage, 
their  God  a  hard  master.  To  men  in  such  a 
state  true  love,  true  obedience,  and  real  peace 
are  alike  impossible.  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
real  acceptable  obedience,  until  we  are  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  the  law  as  a  rule  of  justifi- 
cation, and  are  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death 
of  His  Son.  Till  then  we  are  slaves  and  ene- 
mies and  have  the  feehngs  of  slaves.     When  we 


^6  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

have  accepted  the  terms  of  reconciliation  we  are 
the  sons  of  God  and  have  the  feehngs  of  sons." 
It  is  necessary,  then,  that  the  convert  should 
understand  that  all  believers  are  entirely  redeem- 
ed from  the  law ;  that  they  are,  in  perfect  con- 
sistency with  the  holy  character  of  God,  justified 
in  another  way  than  by  personally  satisfying 
the  law's  demands  ;  that  God  can  be  a  just  God 
and  yet  justify  behevers  without  exacting  any 
righteousness  which  they  have  worked  out ;  and 
that  in  the  case  of  those  who  have  already 
broken  the  law  (and  this  is  the  case  with  be- 
hevers), freedom  from  its  demands,  considered 
as  prescribing  the  terms  of  acceptance,  is  ne- 
cessary in  order  that  their  salvation  may  be  a 
possible  thing.  He  should  be  clearly  taught 
that  it  is  by  the  mystery  of  vicarious  obedience 
and  suffering,  even  by  the  satisfaction  which 
the  blessed  Son  of  God  rendered  to  law  and 
justice  as  our  substitute,  and  in  our  place,  that 
we  are  delivered  from  the  law's  bondage. 
And,  moreover,  that  this  satisfaction  rendered 
by  the  blessed  Saviour,  at  the  same  time  that  it 
frees  us  from  the  obligation  to  obey  and  suffer 
in  our  own  persons,  constitutes  the  righteous- 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  77 

ness  which  is  presented  as  the  ground  of  our 
justification  before  God. 

When  a  burdened  and  conscience-stricken 
member  of  the  Romish  Church  is  brought  to 
see  the  utter  falseness  of  the  teaching  of  his 
Church  concerning  the  way  of  salvation,  and 
when  he  becomes  enlightened  as  to  the  true 
way,  how  exceedingly,  even  beyond  the  power 
of  words  to  express,  does  he  prize  this  doctrine 
of  the  believer's  freedom  from  the  law  !  He 
had  been  taught  that,  although  the  removal 
from  the  soul  of  original  sin  is  effected  by  bap- 
tism, and  that,  although  grace  is  then  infused, 
and  guilt  remitted,  yet  the  sins  which  it  is  al- 
ways committing  after  baptism  cannot  be  per- 
fectly forgiven  until  the  process  of  sanctification 
within  it  is  completed,  that  is,  until  the  soul 
has  at  last  reached  thorough  conformity  to 
God's  law,  and  is  morally  perfect.  Then,  and 
not  before,  can  perfect  forgiveness,  and  God's 
entire  favor  be  enjoyed.  But  this  sanctifica- 
tion  (on  the  full  completion  of  which  God's  en- 
tire favor  depends)  can  only  be  carried  on  by 
being  merited  by  the  soul.  Increase  of  grace 
must  be  deserved  or  merited  by  good  works. 


78  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

And,  further,  past  sins  must  be  atoned  for  by- 
self-inflicted  sufferings,  in  order  that  the  grace 
lost  through  those  past  sins  may  be  restored. 
Very  few,  however,  attain  to  a  state  of  Christian 
perfection  in  this  Hfe — most  are  still  imperfect 
at  death,  while  they  have  failed  to  make,  by 
the  pains  of  penance,  sufficient  satisfaction  for 
their  sins.  These  immediately  after  death  go  to 
purgatory,  where  they  suffer  by  its  fires  more 
or  less  intensely  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period, 
until  their  sins  are  both  atoned  for  and  purged 
out.  Thus  perfection  and  the  consequent 
favor  of  God  can  never  be  obtained,  without 
being  merited-  by  ceaseless,  slavish  labor,  and 
the  endurance  of  dreadful  suffering. 

This  way  of  being  saved  is  the  only  one 
known  to  tens  of  thousands  of  sin-burdened 
souls.  But  now  and  then  one  who  has  long 
been  in  bondage  to  this  cruel,  legal  system  of 
Satan's  devising,  is  delivered  from  his  thral- 
dom, is  brought  to  see  the  light,  and  to  know 
that  he  need  not  merit  salvation,  but  that  sinners 
who  believe  in  Jesus  are  free  from  all  the  law's 
demands  as  the  condition  of  enjoying  God's 
favor,  and  are  saved  by  grace,  and  entirely  by 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  79 

grace.  Is  It  easy  to  describe  the  joy  of  such  a 
soul  when  it  obtains,  its  Hberty,  or  to  under- 
stand how  precious  the  doctrine  of  the  beHever's 
freedom  from  the  law  must  be  to  it  ! 

As  was  said,  the  apostle,  in  treating  the  doc- 
trine of  the  believer's  justification  in  his  epistle 
to  the  Romans,  handles  the  subject  of  his  free- 
dom from  the  law  separately,  and,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  seventh  chapter  illustrates  it. 
He  also,  in  the  same  epistle,  strongly  asserts 
the  truth,  as  he  does  also  in  his  epistle  to  the 
Galatians  :  **Ye  are  not  under  the  law,"  he 
says,  "  but  under  grace."  That  is,  your  own 
personal  obedience  to  the  law  is  no  longer  the 
condition  prescribed  for  your  obtaining  justifi- 
cation. You  are  under  grace.  Your  justifica- 
tion is,  as  far  as  you  are  concerned,  perfectly 
gratuitous. 

Behevers,  then,  from  the  very  moment  when 
by  faith  they  are  united  to  Christ,  are  free 
from  the  law.  And  further  than  this  they  are 
right  before  the  law,  viz.,  are  forever  justified, 
pronounced  righteous,  accepted  on  the  ground 
of  the  Saviour's  merits  as  fully  entitled  to  the 
blessing  of  eternal  life.      Thus    complete   and 


So  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS. 

wonderful  is  the  change  which  has  taken  place 
in  their  relation  to  the  law.  But  we  should  re- 
member that  the  convert  does  not  as  yet  fully 
realize  the  new  and  happy  position  which  he 
occupies,  and  we  should  endeavor  to  instruct 
him  concerning  it.  Unless  he  clearly  under- 
stands it,  he  never  can  have  a  settled  sense  of 
forgiveness,  nor  the  spirit  of  adoption,  nor  can 
he  grow  rapidly  in  grace. 

3.  It  should  be  made  clear  to  the  converfs 
inind  that,  although  believers  are  free  from  the 
law  in  the  sense  that  it  is  for  them  no  longer 
the  rule  of  justification^  they  sustain  another  re- 
lation to  it  which  can  never  be  terminated,  but 
must  always  continue. 

There  is  no  necessity  that  the  convert  should 
infer,  if  he  is  faithfully  taught,  that  believers  are 
in  every  sense  free  from  the  obligation  to  be 
conformed  in  their  character  and  actions  to  the 
law.  He  can  be  taught  that,  in  the  sense  of 
having  hberty  to  sin,  and  to  abstain  from 
efforts  to  be  holy,  they  never  can  be  free. 
The  apostle  denies  that  any  moral  obligation 
is  weakened  by  this  deliverance  of  believers 
from  the  law.      "What  then?"   he    exclaims, 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS,  8 1 

"shall  we  sin,  because  we  are  not  under  the 
law,  but  under  grace  ?  God  forbid.  How  shall 
we  who  died  to  sin,  live  any  longer  therein  ?  " 

While,  then,  sinners  must  be  free  from  the 
law  as  a  rule  of  justification  if  they  are  to  be 
saved,  no  man  can  ever  be  free  from  it,  as  a 
rule  of  duty. 

It  should  be  made  clear  to  the  mind  of  the 
new  believer  that  deliverance  from  the  penalty 
is  only  a  part  of  salvation,  that  Christ's  death 
has  become  ours,  not  only  as  an  expiation  from 
sin,  but  even  as  a  means  of  our  sanctification. 
Indeed  it  is  in  order  that  we  may  be  holy  that 
we  are  pardoned,  and  the  very  reason  why  we 
are  justified  is  that  we  may  be  sanctified.  It 
is  not  mere  pardon  that  is  offered  us  in  the 
gospel.  '*  The  very  act  by  which  we  become 
interested  in  the  redemption  of  Christ  from  the 
condemnation  of  the  law  makes  us  partakers  of 
his  Holy  Spirit,"  who  having  renewed  us  in  the 
whole  man  after  the  image  of  God,  enables  us 
more  and  more  to  die  unto  sin,  and  live  unto 
righteousness. 

There  are  those  who  have  been,  by  an  opera- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit,  so  changed  as  to  their 


82  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

inward  character,  that  it  is  now  in  some 
degree  holy — in  other  words,  is  in  some  de- 
gree conformed  to  the  requirements  of  God's 
holy  law.  Having  been  made  holy,  they  love 
holiness.  They  fully  recognize  their  obhgation 
to  be  entirely  free  from  sin,  and  they  rejoice 
that  this  is  required  of  them.  They  are  well 
aware  that  they  are  only  holy  in  part,  but  they 
are  ever  longing  and  striving  to  come  up  to  the 
very  standard  of  perfection.  Nothing  less  can 
satisfy  them.  This  is  the  only  salvation  they 
seek.  "■  They  feel  that  the  charm  and  glory  of 
redemption  is  deliverance  from  sin  and  con- 
formity to  God,  that  the  whole  design  and  pur- 
pose of  the  mission  and  sufferings  of  the  Saviour 
would  be  frustrated  if  His  people  were  not  made 
partakers  of  His  holiness.  This  is  the  crown  of 
righteousness,  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of 
God,  the  exaltation  and  blessedness  for  which 
they  long,  and  suffer,  and  pray." 

Who  are  those  who  have  experienced  this 
blessed  change  in  their  nature,  in  their  inward 
character,  so  that  in  character  and  life  they  are 
in  some  degree  conformed  to  that  law  which  is 
holy,  just,  and  good,  while  they  are  constantly 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS,  83 

striving  after  more  complete  conformity  to  it  ? 
They  are  the  very  ones  who  in  one  sense  are 
not  under  the  law,  who  are  so  set  free  from  it 
as  a  rule  of  justification  that  it  no  longer  re- 
quires them  to  satisfy  its  demands  as  the  con- 
dition of  reaching  heaven. 

The  convert  who  is  brought  to  understand 
this,  sees  that  two  changes  take  place  when  one 
becomes  a  believer.  His  relation  to  the  law  is 
changed  and  there  is  also,  by  an  operation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  such  a  change  effected  in  his 
character  that  he  is  brought  into  a  state  of  con- 
formity (partial  conformity)  to  the  very  law 
which  no  longer  binds  him  as  a  rule  of  justifica- 
tion. At  the  same  time  he  fully  recognizes  the 
fact  that  to  be  guilty  of  sin  and  to  be  wanting 
in  perfect  conformity  to  the  Adamic  law  in  all 
its  extent  and  strictness,  are  precisely  the  same 
thing,  and  that  therefore  his  obligation,  to  be 
completely  conformed  to  it,  must  always  remain. 
And  while  he  recognizes  this  obligation,  it  gives 
him  joy  to  think  of  it  because  he  delights  in  the 
law  of  God  after  the  inward  man. 

No  true  believer  ever  did,  or  ever  will  accept 
the  dreadful  Antinomian  doctrine  that  holiness 


84  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

of  life  Is  not  required  of  those  to  whom  Christ's 
righteousness  is  imputed  ;  that  His  people  are 
deHvered  from  all  obligation  to  observe  God's 
law,  even  as  a  rule  of  duty ;  that  they  are  not 
bound  to  be  personally  conformed  to  it ;  that 
they  are  redeemed  from  it  in  every  sense ;  that 
even  should  they  continue  in  sin,  they  violate 
no  law  which  they  are  bound  to  obey.  We 
have  already  quoted  the  words  of  Paul  in  which 
he  repudiates  this  horrible  doctrine  slanderously 
charged  against  him. 

But  while  it  is  abhorrent  to  the  mind  of  every 
true  Christian  to  admit  that  God's  law  is  abro- 
gated, many  whose  piety  we  cannot  doubt, 
maintain  (at  least  in  their  creeds)  that  while  a 
law  does  indeed  exist,  obedience  to  which  is  re- 
quired, it  is  only  the  law  which  they  call  the 
evangelical  law.  No  other  law  are  believers 
required  to  obey.  This,  for  Christ's  sake,  is 
substituted  for  the  original  law  of  absolute 
moral  perfection,  so  that  the  latter  is  not  now 
even  our  rule  of  action,  to  which  it  is  our  duty 
to  be  personally  conformed.  This  milder  law, 
Christ  the  mediator  has  introduced  as  being 
adopted  to  the  fallen  condition  of  man.     It  re- 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  85 

quires  no  more  of  men  than  that  they  should 
possess  the  conditions  of  faith  and  evangeHcal 
obedience,  which  condition  all  men  are  by  grace 
made  capable  of  fulfilling.  These  persons  teach 
that  God  can  consistently  with  His  justice  thus 
lower  the  demands  upon  us  of  the  Adamic  law, 
because  Christ  has  fully  satisfied  its  demands  in 
our  behalf.  If  obeying  the  evangelical  law  is 
the  way  to  obtain  justification,  then  the  doc- 
trine of  perfection  seems  a  necessary  part  of 
this  scheme,  and  indeed  its  advocates  hold  that 
what  they  call  gracious  or  Christian  perfection 
is  attainable,  and  is  in  fact  actually  attained  by 
many  before  death.  Although  every  true  Chris- 
tian whose  creed  contains  even  this  system  of 
belief,  must  reject  the  Antinomian  doctrine,  yet 
this  system  tends  to  Antinomianism,  since  by  it 
the  law  of  absolute  perfection  originally  im- 
posed on  our  race  is  set  aside  in  order  that  the 
evangelical  law  may  be  substituted  in  its 
place. 

Aspiration  after  complete  conformity  in  char- 
acter and  life  to  God's  perfect  law,  should  pos- 
sess the  soul  of  every  believer,  and  it  would  be 
well  for  converts  if  all  their  associations  were 


S6  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

always  with  Christians  filled  with  this  holy  long- 
ing. 

God's  holy  law  is  universal  and  immutable, 
and  demands  spotless  holiness  of  every  account- 
able being,  and  this  because  it  is  an  expression 
of  the  absolute  moral  perfection  of  the  divine 
nature.  It  should  be  impressed  upon  the  mind 
of  the  convert  that  it  can  never  be  relaxed, 
and  that  not  to  come  up  to  all  its  demands  is 
to  suffer  infinite  loss.  He  should  be  taught 
that  the  gospel  even  increases  our  obligations 
to  be  perfectly  conformed  to  it.  Never  should 
he  forget  that  although  believers  are,  as  has 
been  shown,  free  from  the  law  in  the  sense  that 
it  is  for  them  no  longer  the  rule  of  justification, 
they  sustain  another  relation  to  it  which  must 
always  continue. 

4.  The  convert  needs  instrtLction  cojicerning 
the  zuork  of  sa7tctification  noiu  hegiiii  m  his  son  I. 

First,  he  needs  to  be  taught  that  sanctification 
is  as  much  due  to  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  regeneration — that  it  is  just  as  much  a  work 
of  grace,  and  that  it  does  not  cease  to  be  due 
to  His  agency  because  the  soul  exerts  itself  and 
co-operates   in   the   process.     Sanctification   is 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  8/ 

not  maintained  solely  by  our  own  exertions,  nor 
by  the  strength  of  the  principle  of  grace  com- 
municated in  regeneration  ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
is  by  the  Spirit's  agency  all  along,  and  from 
first  to  last,  that  any  believer  grows  in  holiness„ 
Christians  too  often  lose  sight  of  this  fact. 

Second,  that  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as 
sanctification  unless  sin  and  holiness  both  ex- 
isted in  the  soul.  If  regeneration  removed  all 
sin  from  the  soul,  then,  after  becoming  in  this 
way  perfectly  holy,  it  might  continue  to  increase 
in  holiness  as  the  angels  and  the  saints  in  heaven 
do  ;  but  that  would  not  be  sanctification.  The 
very  idea  of  sanctification  supposes  the  exist- 
ence of  indwelling  sin — a  dying  indeed  unto  it, 
but  not  a  complete  deliverance  from  it.  In 
those  who  are  the  subjects  of  this  work  sin  and 
holiness  exist  together. 

Third.  In  the  beUever's  sanctification  sin  be- 
comes weaker  and  weaker,  and  its  power  is 
more  and  more  destroyed,  while  holiness  or 
spiritual  life  constantly  grows  and  gradually  tri- 
umphs over  the  principle  of  evil  that  still  re- 
mains in  the  soul  after  its  regeneration  has 
taken  place.     And  while  in  the  main  the  good 


88  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

is  victorious  over  the  evil  principle,  the  time  ap- 
proaches when  it  will  be  completely  triumphant. 

Fourth.  The  convert  needs  to  be  fully  in- 
structed in  the  truth  that  the  blessed  Saviour 
in  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  dwells  is  the  author  of 
our  sanctification  by  communicating  that  same 
Holy  Spii'tt  to  us.  Believers  are  united  to 
Christ  by  faith,  and,  while  one  effect  of  this 
union  is  a  participation  in  His  merits,  another 
effect  is  that  we  are  made  partakers  of  His 
Spirit — and  are  made  partakers  of  His  Holy 
Spirit  expressly  that  this  blessed  Agent  may 
carry  forward  the  work  of  sanctification  in  our 
souls — expressly  that  He  may  dwell  in  us  as  a 
principle  of  life,  to  bring  us  more  and  more  into 
conformity  with  the  image  of  God. 

Thus  the  convert  may  see  how  Christ  is  the 
author  of  our  sanctification.  The  Holy  Spirit, 
the  third  Person  of  the  glorious  Trinity,  dwel- 
ling without  measure  in  Christ,  dwells  also  in 
us,  so  that  we  partake  of  Christ's  life.  Christ 
lives  in  us  (Gal.  ii.  20).  We  see  in  the  Vine 
one  of  the  illustrations  presented  to  us  in  the 
Scriptures  of  the  truth  that  believers  participate 
in  the  life  of  Christ  :   ''I  am  the  vine,  ye  are 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  89 

the  branches  :  he  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I  in 
him,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit  :  for 
without  me  ye  can  do  nothing."  It  must  be 
deeply  impressed  on  the  mind  of  the  convert 
that  he  can  only  be  sanctified  by  Christ's  living 
in  him  by  His  Holy  Spirit — that  in  order  to  die 
unto  sin  and  live  unto  righteousness,  he  must 
be  strengthened  with  might  by  Christ's  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  inner  man.  Not  that  the  divine 
Spirit  accomplishes  this  work  without  employ- 
ing the  truth.  He  never  acts  independently  of 
the  Word,  but  always  uses  it  as  his  instrument 
in  producing  holiness  of  heart  and  life.  Its 
agency  is  asserted  in  such  passages  as  these  : 
**  The  engrafted  word  which  is  able  to  save  your 
souls"  (James  i.  21).  "  The  word  of  his  grace 
which  is  able  to  build  you  up,  and  to  give  you 
an  inheritance  among  all  them  that  are  sancti- 
fied "  (Acts  XX.  32).  And  the  Saviour  prays, 
**  Sanctify  them  by  thy  truth,  thy  word  is  truth  " 
(John  xvii.  17).  Still  the  truth  could  have  no 
sanctifying,  purifying  effect  did  not  the  Holy 
Spirit  attend  it,  work  with  it,  and  give  it  effi- 
cacy. During  the  believer's  whole  life  His 
agency  is  necessary.     Nor  can  sin  be  destroyed 


90  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

and  spiritual  life  maintained  and  advanced  in 
the  soul  in  any  way  except  by  Christ  living  and 
abiding  in  it  by  His  Spirit. 

This  is  the  scriptural  explanation  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  Christ  is  the  Source  of  the  believ- 
er's life  ;  and  it  is  a  very  different  view  from  one 
Avhich  at  the  present  day  is  having  a  v/ide  ac- 
ceptance. It  is  taught  by  some  in  these  times 
that  Christ  wrought  out  and  developed  within 
Himself  a  holy  frame  and  disposition  which  He 
had  no  need  of  for  Himself  any  more  than  He 
had  need  of  His  merits  which  justify  us,  and  that 
for  our  sanctification  we  must  trust  in  Him  for 
the  impartation  to  us  of  this  His  inward  holi- 
ness. According  to  this,  we  are  sanctified  by 
sharing  His  subjective  righteousness  by  infusion 
through  faith.  And  thus  Christ  is  to  do  the 
whole  work,  and  we  have  nothing  more  to  do 
than  passively  believe  that  He  will. 

Fifth.  Justification  and  sanctification  are  never 
separated  in  the  believer's  experience.  Some 
maintain  that  the  believer  is  by  no  means,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  sanctified  as  soon  as  he  is  jus- 
tified ;  that  his  sanctification  does  not  begin 
when  he  first  receives  pardon.     These  persons 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  9 1 

teach  that  even  after  one  has  been  regenerated 
and  justified,  years  may  pass  before  he  enters 
upon  the  process  of  sanctification.  When  first 
converted,  the  soul  accepts  Christ  for  justifica- 
tion, then  afterward,  by  a  separate  act,  it  ac- 
cepts Him  for  sanctification.  *'  In  the  ordinary 
and  normal  progress  of  the  Christian  life,  after 
regeneration  has  taken  place  and  after  the  soul 
has  accepted  Christ  by  faith  as  its  Saviour  from 
the  condemnation  and  penalty  of  the  law,  there 
is  a  point  at  which  it  begins  for  the  first  time  to 
believe  in  Christ  for  sanctification  and  becomes 
conscious  of  a  transition  into  a  new  and  higher 
state  of  life."  Now,  converts  should  be  guarded 
against  this  error,  and  be  taught  that  justifica- 
tion and  sanctification,  though  they  are  to  be 
distinguished,  are  never  separated  in  experience 
— that  true  faith  embraces  Christ  In  all  his  of- 
fices as  a  complete  Saviour  from  the  guilt  and 
power  of  sin.  Forgiveness  cannot  be  separated 
from  purification.  The  blessed  Jesus  cannot  be 
our  Priest  without  being  at  the  same  time  our 
Prophet  and  King ;  and  the  same  act  of  faith 
which  accepts  Christ  in  one  of  his  offices,  accepts 
Him  in  all.     The  moment  a  man  is  justified  by 


92  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

faith,  that  very  moment  the  work  of  sanctifica- 
tion  is  begun  in  his  soul. 

Sixth.  The  absolute  necessity,  in  order  to  its 
sanctification,  of  the  vigorous  co-operation  of 
the  soul  itself  with  Him  who  works  within  it  to 
will  and  to  do.  One  would  think  that  there  is 
no  necessity  for  dwelling  on  this.  The  hum- 
ble, grateful  convert,  as  we  behold  him,  seems  to 
know  well  that  he  himself  must  put  forth  effort.  • 
If  he  is  truly  a  subject  of  God's  grace  he  does 
not  ask,  Am  I  required  to  do  anything  ?  but 
What  am  I  to  do  ?  He  understands  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Scriptures  as  to  the  necessity  of  our 
working  out  our  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling,  and  he  knows  much  about  the  means 
of  grace  which  he  is  to  use.  Still  he  needs  to 
be  warned.  So  many  have  become  slothful  in 
spiritual  things  and  relaxed  their  efforts,  that 
we  reasonably  feel  that  each  new  convert  is  in 
danger  of  it.  We  co-operate  with  "  God  who 
worketh  in  us"  when  we  feel  the  necessity  of 
divine  influence  in  order  to  our  sanctification, 
and  pray  for  it  incessantly  and  with  strong  de- 
sires. Also  when,  in  obedience  to  the  command 
of  Christ,  we  search  the  Scriptures  and  strive  to 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  93 

obey  their  directions  ;  when  we  faithfully  use 
the  public  as  well  as  the  private  means  of 
grace,  and  we  must  not  forget  to  add  when  we 
labor  to  do  good  to  others. 

5.  If  we  seldom  think  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
show  no  anxiety  to  become  acquainted  with 
what  the  Scriptures  teach  concerning  Him,  we 
are  guilty  of  great  sin,  and  need  not  expect  to 
grow  in  grace.  The  SpirittLal  good  of  the  con- 
vert, therefore,  requires  that  he  be  instructed 
cojicerning  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  it 
is  revealed  in  the,  Bible. 

No  true  believer  will  deny  the  personality  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  one  thing,  however,  to 
admit  His  personality  in  words,  and  quite  an- 
other to  think  of  Him,  feel  toward  Him,  and 
pray  to  Him  as  a  Person,  who  while  He  is  the 
same  in  substance  with  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
is  distinct  from  them.  That  He  is  in  Himself  a 
distinct,  intelligent,  and  divine  Person  could  not 
be  more  plainly  taught  in  the  Scriptures  than  it 
is. 

Only  a  person  can  speak,  and  say  I,  and  yet 
we  are  told  (Acts  xiii.  2)  that  '*  the  Holy  Ghost 
said,  Separate  me  Barnabas    and  Saul  for  the 


94  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

work  whereunto  /  have  called  them."  In  like 
manner  the  use  of  the  pronoun  He  by  our 
Saviour,  when  he  speaks  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in 
the  sixteenth  chapter  of  John,  as  well  as  in 
other  places,  shows  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a 
person. 

He  sustains  the  relations  to  us,  and  performs 
the  offices  for  us,  of  a  teacher,  comforter,  and 
guide.     Therefore,  He  is  a  Person. 

He  must  be  a  person  because  the  elements 
of  personaHty,  /.  ^.,  intelligence,  will,  and  indi- 
vidual subsistence,  are  expressly  attributed  to 
Him.  They  are  attributed  to  Him  in  those 
passages  in  which  He  is  said  to  search  or  know 
all  things,  even  the  deep  things  of  God,  and  in 
which  also  He  is  said  to  will,  and  to  act.  I 
Cor.  ii.  lO,  12,  and  i  Cor.  xii.  1 1. 

Since  the  Father  and  the  Son  are  admitted 
to  be  distinct  persons,  the  association  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  with  them  in  our  baptism  shows 
that  He  also  is  a  distinct  person. 

If  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  divine  Person,  distinct 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  then  to  almost 
ignore  Him  as  such,  as  some  do  who  neverthe- 
less  profess  to  be    His   worshippers,  is   to    be 


THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  95 

guilty  of  great  sin.  He  demands  of  us  recog- 
nition and  honor. 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  not  the  God-man.  He 
did  not  subject  Himself  to  the  law  which  we 
broke,  and  become  obedient  unto  death.  He 
was  not  exalted  to  be  the  mediatorial  King.  It 
was  the  second  person  of  the  Godhead  who  was 
made  of  a  woman,  who  was  made  under  the 
law,  who  died  for  our  sins,  and  who  ascended 
to  Heaven  clothed  in  our  nature,  to  sit  at  the 
right  hand  of  God  the  Father.  It  is  the  son  of 
man,  while  He  is  the  Son  of  God,  who,  seated 
on  His  throne,  nevertheless  continues  our  great 
high  Priest,  and  continually  intercedes  for  us. 

But  while  the  blessed  Spirit  does  not  execute 
these  offices  for  us.  He  has  His  own  office  work 
to  perform  in  our  redemption.  All  Christians 
are  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  office  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  work  of  redemption.  They  know 
that  He  created  the  body  and  soul  of  Christ, 
Matt.  i.  1 8,  20.  Luke  i.  35,  and  that  He  replen- 
ished our  Lord  with  all  spiritual  gifts,  Isai.  ii. 
I,  2.  They  know  that  it  is  His  office  to  reveal 
divine  truth  to  men.  All  the  Old  Testament, 
and  all  the  New  Testament  writers  were  the 


9^  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

organs  of  the  divine  Spirit  in  the  communica- 
tion of  God's  will  to  a  lost  world.  Not  only 
did  He  reveal  divine  truth  when  He  inspired 
holy  men  of  old  to  write  the  Scriptures,  but 
He  is  a  revealer  of  the  truth  to  the  souls  of 
men  by  giving  them  a  sight,  a  perception  of 
its  glorious  qualities.  By  rousing  the  moral 
nature  of  unrenewed  men  and  giving  activity  to 
it  He  causes  the  truth  of  God's  word  which 
they  read,  or  hear  read,  to  have  great  power 
over  them — power  to  restrain  their  wickedness 
within  bounds,  and  to  convict  them  of  sin.  All 
behevers,  also,  know  that  it  is  the  office  of  the 
Spirit  to  regenerate  souls — to  make  converts, 
i.  e. ,  to  lead  men  to  the  exercise  of  faith  and 
repentance,  to  take  of  the  things  of  Christ  and 
show  them  unto  the  soul,  and  to  dwell  in  re- 
generated and  believing  men  as  a  principle  of 
a  new  divine  and  immortal  life. 

But,  while  it  is  probable  that  all  true  converts 
who  live  where  Bibles  abound,  early  obtain  a 
knowledge  of  the  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
the  work  of  redemption,  there  are  still  some 
things  pertaining  to  His  work,  to  His  relation 
to  us,  and  to  our  relation  to  Him,  and  also  to 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  97 

our  duties  to  Him,  which  are,  perhaps,  seldom 
taught  them  at  an  early  stage  of  their  Christian 
course. 

I.  They  should  be  taught  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  not  only  truly  and  strictly  a  Person 
equal  in  power  and  glory  to  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  but  that  He  is  difree  Person,  untrammelled 
by  any  laws  which  He  has  laid  down  to  guide 
Himself  by.  Some  seem  to  think  that  His  in- 
fluence is  communicated  according  to  fixed 
laws.  The  convert  cannot  too  soon  be  taught 
the  voluntariness  of  His  agency.  Then  he  will 
understand  his  dependence,  and  that  of  all  men, 
on  the  blessed  Spirit.  Then  he  will  not  be 
likely  to  adopt  erroneous  views  in  regard  to 
the  way  in  which  revivals  are  brought  about. 
A  respectable  writer,  speaking  of  revivals,  fool- 
ishly says  :  **  No  one  has  yet  succeeded  in  def- 
initely stating  their  law,  or  bringing  them  un- 
der fixed  conditions  of  time  and  circumstance." 
There  is  no  law  which  controls  the  Holy  Spir- 
it, either  in  sending  revivals,  or  in  accompa- 
nying with  power  His  truth,  read  or  listened 
to  by  the  individual.  It  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance that  we  should  all  feel  our  dependence 
S 


98  THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

on  the  good  will  of  a  Person.  The  influence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  '^  is  not  the  influence  of  a  uni- 
formly acting  force  co-operating  with  the  truth  ; 
but  that  of  a  Person  acting  when  and  where  He 
pleases  ;  more  at  one  time  than  at  another, 
sometimes  in  one  way,  and  sometimes  in 
another." 

2.  We  should  all  be  deeply  affected  by  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible  concerning  those  influ- 
ences of  the  Spirit  which  (because  He  is  kind 
to  our  world)  He  exerts  on  all  unrenewed 
men.  We  should  be  grateful  for  those  influen- 
ces. .  This  is  a  point  to  which  the  mind  of  the 
young  believer  should  be  directed,  that  he  may 
early  form  the  habit  of  recognizing  the  Spirit's 
common  operations.  There  is  not  one  out  of 
the  world  of  despair,  who  is  not,  in  some  degree, 
restrained  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  We  think  men 
are  bad,  but  what  would  they  be  if  the  Spirit  of 
God  should  entirely  withdraw  from  them  as 
He  does  from  the  lost.  "  To  the  general  influ- 
ence of  the  Spirit  we  owe  all  the  decorum, 
order,  refinement,  and  virtue  existing  among 
men.  Mere  fear  of  future  punishment,  the 
natural   sense  of  right,  and  the  restraints   of 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  99 

human  laws  would  prove  feeble  barriers  to  evil, 
were  it  not  for  the  repressing  power  of  the 
Spirit,  which,  like  the  pressure  of  the  atmos- 
phere, is  universal  and  powerful,  although  un- 
felt."  The  reason  why  the  Holy  Spirit  does 
not  restrain  men,  and  keep  within  bounds  their 
corruptions  still  more  than  He  does,  is  because 
believers  do  not  continually  pray  that  His  com- 
mon operations  may  be  more  powerful  in  our 
world. 

3.  The  convert  should  be  urged  to  bear  in 
mind  continually,  that  we  live  under  the  dis- 
pensation of  the  Spirit,  and  to  endeavor  to  take 
in  the  full  meaning  of  this  truth.  He  is  the  one 
indispensable  Agent  in  the  whole  work  of  the 
apphcation  of  the  redemption  of  Christ  to  lost 
men.  Everything  is  subordinate  to  this  chief 
gift  of  God,  since  Christ's  ascension  to  the 
Father.  "  He  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Father,  and 
He  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Son,  and  He  is  the 
Spirit  of  the  believer,  the  one  common  Spirit 
of  them  all,  by  whom  they  are  made  one  in 
that  sublime  and  mystical  fellowship  set  forth 
in  the  latter  part  of  our  Lord's  intercessory 
prayer,  John  xvii.     He  is  the  life-giving  Spirit 


100  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

of  souls  dead  in  sin.  He  is  the  Spirit  of  con- 
viction, of  illumination,  of  sanctification,  of  con- 
solation, of  strength.  He  only  reveals  Christ 
in  the  soul,  and  transforms  it  into  His  image. 
On  this  sacred  Person  all  men  are  absolutely- 
dependent."  It  is  the  Spirit's  work  alone  to 
conquer  the  world  for  Christ,  by  gathering 
souls  into  the  Church.  And,  as  the  regener- 
ating act  is  the  act  of  the  divine  Spirit ;  so  that 
instantaneous  change  in  the  soul  by  which  it 
becomes  perfectly  holy  in  the  article  of  death  is 
effected  by  an  act  of  the  Holy  Spirit  alone. 

4.  In  addition  to  what  has  been  said,  there 
is  a  certain  caution  and  a  certain  entreaty 
which  should,  with  great  earnestness,  be  ad- 
dressed to  converts.  They  should  be  cautioned 
to  avoid  everything  which  would  grieve  the 
blessed  Spirit,  since  we  cannot  grieve  Him 
without  being  in  imminent  danger  of  losing  His 
influences.  It  is  easy  to  learn  what  does  grieve 
Him.  Only  let  the  soul  be  constantly  afraid 
of  wounding  and  offending  this  infinitely  con- 
descending, gracious,  and  powerful  Friend,  and 
the  danger  of  committing  this  sin  will  be 
greatly   lessened.     The    entreaty  is,  that   they 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  lOI 

not  only  pray  for  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  that  they 
ask  that  they  may  be  filled  with  Him.  Some 
saints  receive  this  gift  in  larger  measure  than 
others,  because  they  pray  more  for  it.  We 
should  never  be  satisfied  with  what  we  now 
possess  of  the  Spirit's  presence  and  influences. 
Our  Heavenly  Father  does  not  wish  us  to  be- 
Our  desires  for  this  priceless  blessing  should  be 
absolutely  insatiable. 

6.  It  should  be  deeply  impressed  upon  the 
mind  of  the  young  disciple,  tJiat  the  gospel  is 
represented  in  the  Scriptures  tinder  the  form  of  a 
covenant^  and  that  it  is  so  called  by  Christ  Him- 
self (Mat.  xxvi.  28).  The  Saviour  promises  us  the 
salvation  of  our  souls,  and  we  promise  the  blessed 
Saviour,  in  His  strength,  faith  and  obedience. 
Here  is  a  covenant  between  Christ  and  the  be- 
liever. At  first  we  embrace  this  covenant  in  the 
secrecy  of  our  souls,  namely,  by  exercising  faith, 
which  is  an  inward  act.  Then,  when  we  are 
baptized,  we  embrace  it  outwardly  and  visibly. 

All  Christians  know  that  the  Scriptures  use 
the  word  covenant,  in  setting  forth  the  way  of 
salvation,  but  few  seem  to  be  aware  of  the 
frequency   with   which   they    employ  it.     The 


102  THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

word  should  be  dear  to  us,  not  only  because  it 
is  in  the  Bible,  but  because  the  Holy  Spirit, 
who  is  the  author  of  the  Scriptures,  uses  it  so 
often.  Christians  should  be  just  as  familiar 
with  the  word  covenant,  as  they  are  with  the 
words  *'  grace,"  **  throne  of  grace,"  *'  heirs  of 
the  promise,"  "  kingdom  of  God,  "  *'  redemp- 
tion," ''precious  faith,"  etc. 

Why  do  the  Scriptures  so  prominently  repre- 
sent the  gospel  under  this  form  ?  One  reason 
undoubtedly  is,  to  lead  us  constantly  to  bear 
in  mind  the  fact  that  we  must  co-operate 
with  God  (in  ways  already  pointed  out)  in  the 
work  of  our  salvation.  When  two  persons 
enter  into  a  covenant,  each  has  conditions  to 
perform.  And  so  if  Christ  and  the  believer 
have  covenanted  with  each  other,  not  only  has 
the  condescending  Saviour  conditions  to  fulfil, 
but  so  has  the  believer.  The  Saviour  will  be 
faithful  to  His  covenant-promise,  which  is  to 
save  us  on  condition  that  He  continues  to  find 
in  us  faith  and  obedience  to  the  very  end.  We 
must  see  to  it  that  we,  also,  are  faithful  to  our 
engagements.  Otherwise  we  are  covenant- 
breakers,  and   by  the  very  terms  of  the  cove- 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  IO3 

nant  (which  require  co-operation  on  our  part) 
salvation  must   be  withheld  from  us. 

This  covenant  between  Christ  and  His  peo- 
ple is  not  made  once  for  all.  It  is  constantly 
renewed.  It  is  secretly  renewed  in  every  act 
of  faith,  and  it  is  renewed  publicly  whenever  we 
partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Let  the  con- 
vert be  well  instructed  as  to  the  existence  and 
the  nature  of  this  covenant,  and  let  him  daily 
remember  what  the  Bible  teaches  concerning 
it,  and  he  may  expect  to  be,  all  his  life,  a 
better  Christian  in  consequence.  If  he  is  a 
parent  let  him  remember,  with  gratitude,  that  it 
includes  his  children,  so  that  its  precious  prom- 
ises are  meant  also  for  them. 

We  have  now  presented  some  of  the  truths 
which  the  inspired  writers  of  the  Scriptures 
clearly  and  powerfully  set  forth,  and  seek  to 
impress  upon  all  classes  of  believers.  If  we  are 
the  means,  by  our  instructions  and  example,  of 
bringing  converts  to  know  and  act  upon  these 
truths,  we  cannot  but  greatly  benefit  them. 
They  may  be  expected  to  have  a  healthy  relig- 
ious experience,  to  grow  in  grace,  and  to  be 
useful  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SOME  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  DUTIES,  DIFFICULTIES, 
PRIVILEGES  AND  ACTIVITIES,  IN  REGARD  TO  WHICH 
THE  CONVERT  NEEDS  TO  BE  INSTRUCTED. 

DUTIES. 

Z^  UTIES  which  are  also  graces  of  the  Spi- 
rit.— As  in  exercising  the  Christian  graces 
we  co-operate  with  the  Holy  Spirit ;  as  they 
are  capable  of  being  cultivated,  and  as  they  are 
only  different  ways  in  which  our  souls  act  in 
obeying  God  and  serving  men,  they  are  duties 
as  well  as  Christian  graces.  Now  the  convert 
needs  to  be  instructed  in  regard  to  these  duties. 
He  should  know  what  the  Bible  says  about 
them.  It  speaks  of  them  all,  and  some  of 
them  it  dwells  upon  fully.  Even  the  most 
careless  reader  of  the  Scriptures  knows  how 
much  they  dwell  upon  the  grace  of  faith,  and 
how  incessantly  they  demand  it  of  us  as  a  duty. 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  IO5 

They  insist  likewise  on  the  duty  of  exercising 
love.  They  speak  of  the  love  which  is  due  to 
Christ,  and  command  us  to  love  the  saints, 
strangers,  enemies,  and  all  men.  They  tell  us 
that  we  ought  to  manifest  this  love  by  clothing 
the  naked,  visiting  the  sick,  sympathizing  with 
the  afflicted,  covering  the  faults  of  others,  and 
forgiving  injuries.  They  command  us  to  prac- 
tise the  duty  and  grace  of  self-denial  whenever 
our  desires  are  evil  in  their  nature,  or  when, 
though  they  may  be  innocent  in  themselves, 
they  become  sinful  by  being  immoderate. 
They  also  teach  us  to  practise  the  duty  of  self- 
denial  whenever  the  gratification  of  our  own 
wishes  is  inconsistent  with  the  good  of  others. 
As  for  the  duty  and  grace  of  liberality  we  find 
exhortations  to  it  in  Luke  iii.  11,  xi.  41  ;  Acts 
XX.  35  ;  I  Cor.  xvi.  i  ;  i  Tim.  vi.  17,  18.  Pre- 
cious promises  are  made  to  liberality,  and  bless- 
ings are  connected  with  it  in  Psalm  cxii.  9 ; 
Prov.  xi.  25,  xxviii.  27  ;  Eccle.  xi.  I,  2  ;  Isa. 
Iviii.  10  ;  Psalm  xli.  i  ;  Prov.  xxii.  9.  We  are 
to  exercise  liberality  toward  saints,  the  poor, 
strangers,  all  men,  even  enemies,  in  lending  to 
those   in   want,    and   by   forwarding   missions. 


I06  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

We  are  to  give  without  ostentation,  with  sim- 
plicity, according  to  ability,  and  willingly. 
We  are  assured  that  if  we  give  cheerfully,  God 
will  love  us,  2  Cor.  ix.  6,  7.  In  order  to  stimu- 
late us  to  liberality,  the  Scriptures  present  to 
us  many  exempHfications  of  it.  See  especially 
2  Cor.  viii.  1-5. 

We  should  remember  that  all  that  we  call 
our  own,  really  belongs  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
that  not  only  because  He  is  God  and  the  Creator 
and  proprietor  of  all  things,  but  because  He 
is  Mediatorial  King.  All  things  have  been 
given  by  the  Father  to  His  Son  Jesus,  the  God- 
man,  that  Jesus  may  make  all  tributary  to  the 
advancement  of  His  kingdom.  But  He  could 
not  cause  all  things  that  exist  to  concur  in  the 
execution  of  this  glorious  design  unless  they 
were  given  to  him  in  such  a  sense  as  to  belong 
to  him,  in  such  a  sense  as  to  be  his  own. 
What  we  call  our  own,  then,  is  only  apparently 
ours — really  it  belongs  to  our  Lord  Jesus,  that 
He  may  use  it  to  further  the  interests  of  His 
kingdom.  By.  His  Father's  gift  He  is  the  pos- 
sessor of  the  universe,  with  the  creatures  that 
live   in    it — rational   and   irrational,    and   with 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  10/ 

whatever  they  fondly  look  upon  as  their  own. 
The  blessed  Jesus  then  possesses  our  money, 
our  dwellings,  our  farms,  our  merchandise,  our 
books,  and  our  ornaments,  and  even  our  food 
and  clothing  are  His.  What,  then,  is  there  so 
very  commendable  in  giving,  or  rather  return' 
ing  to  Him  the  money  which  is  already  His, 
that  it  may  be  employed  to  build  up  His  glori- 
ous kingdom  ?  It  is  His  loving  kindness  to  us 
which  causes  Him  to  look  upon  our  contribu- 
tions in  the  light  of  gifts,  and  to  reward  us  for 
making  our  contributions  to  His  cause.  The 
convert  should  be  taught  to  view  the  matter 
thus,  and  to  form  the  habit  of  doing  so. 

Among  the  characteristics  of  the  Christian 
which  are  both  duties  and  graces,  the  Bible 
mentions  "  bowels  of  mercies,  kindness,  hum- 
bleness of  mind,  meekness,  long-suffering ; 
forbearing  one  another,  and  forgiving  one 
another,  as  Christ  forgave  us,  together  with 
charity,  which  is  the  bond  of  perfectness,"  Col. 
iii.  12-14.  The  convert  should  be  taught  that 
he  is  to  co-operate  with  the  Holy  Spirit  in  ex- 
ercising these. 

Secret  duties, — The  devotional  reading  of  the 


I08  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

Scriptures  and  closet  prayer  are  the  principal 
duties  to  be  performed  in  secret.  Both  should 
be  faithfully  attended  to.  Both  are  means  of 
grace.  If  they  are  but  little  prized  and  care- 
lessly attended  to  by  the  behever  at  the  com- 
mencement of  his  course  they  are  likely  to  be 
neglected  ever  afterward. 

There  is  much  about  prayer  which  the  con- 
vert and  the  advanced  believer  know  in  com- 
mon. Both  know  that  while  God  commands  us 
to  pray,  it  is  infinite  condescension  in  Him  to 
permit  us  to  have  communion  with  Him.  Both 
know  that  no  one  can  be  a  Christian  who  never 
prays — that  prayer  is  as  essential  to  the  spiritual 
life  as  the  heart's  pulsations  are  essential  to  the 
natural  life.  Both  know  that  prayer  is  speaking 
to  God,  and  that  in  it  we  confess  sin,  offer  sup- 
plications, and  express  the  feelings  of  love,  ador- 
ation, and  gratitude.  Both  know  that  one  needs 
not  be  perfect  before  he  can  pray,  but  that 
prayer  is  an  act  of  a  sinner ;  that  the  precise 
thing  asked  for  is  not  always  granted  even  when 
the  prayer  is  acceptable  to  God  and  brings  a 
blessing  ;  and  that  he  who  regards  iniquity  in 
his  heart  will  not  be  heard. 


THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  IO9 

But,  while  the  advanced  Christian  and  the 
convert  alike  understand  these  things,  the  older 
Christian  knows  better  than  the  new  convert 
does  that  prayer  helps  the  soul  onward  in  the 
Christian  life  ;  that  if,  in  times  of  temptation  to 
despondency  or  sin,  it  prays  fervently,  it  is 
**  conscious  of  a  strength  to  resist  or  to  endure, 
which  no  effort  of  will,  and  no  influence  of  mo- 
tives, ever  could  impart ;  "  that  prayer  is  pow- 
erful to  comfort,  calm,  lighten,  and  strengthen 
the  distressed  soul ;  that,  if  one  is  conscious  of 
a  reluctance  to  engage  in  the  act,  he  must  not 
wait  until  a  spirit  of  prayer  comes  over  him,  but 
must  ask,  and  seek,  and  knock,  and  expect  a 
blessing  from  God  in  the  use  of  His  appointed 
means  ;  that  it  is  possible  for  the  habit  of  prayer 
to  be  so  strengthened  that  the  act  cannot  be 
omitted  without  pain  ;  and  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
assists  those  who  are  faithful  in  attending  to  the 
duty.  Now,  whatever  the  more  experienced  be- 
liever has  learned  concerning  prayer,  he  should 
be  anxious  to  teach  his  younger  brother. 

It  would  be  an  unspeakable  benefit  to  the 
new  convert  could  he  be  brought  to  feel  the  im- 
portance of  having  fixed  regular  times  set  apart 


no  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

for  the  purpose  of  praying  in  his  closet.  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that  habits  of  systematic 
prayer  are  seldom  persevered  in,  unless  they  are 
begun  when  one  is  first  converted.  Nor  should 
these  prayers  of  stated  seasons  and  of  the  closet 
be  very  brief.  When  we  withdraw  from  the 
world  and  set  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  God, 
we  cannot  always  be  warmed  and  revived  in  a 
moment.  During  the  first  few  moments  the 
thoughts  are  apt  to  wander,  so  that  if  we  rise 
from  our  knees  shortly  after  commencing  our 
devotions  we  fail  to  reap  the  benefit  of  them. 
Let  secret  prayer  be  prolonged,  and  then  peni- 
tence, and  love,  and  all  holy  affections  will  at 
last  manifest  their  existence.  **  No  external 
activity,  though  pushed  to  the  utmost,  can  make 
up  for  the  want  of  closet  devotion.  If  we  would 
learn  how  Elijah,  Daniel,  Paul,  Augustine,  Lu- 
ther, Whitefield,  Martyr,  Payson,  and  Judson 
came  to  quit  themselves  like  men,  we  must  ac- 
company them  to  their  wrestling  prayers.  The 
world  has  half  destroyed  us  when  we  are  too 
busy  to  pray.  In  closet  devotion,  unless  it  be 
formal,  scanty,  or  hurried,  the  young  Christian 
comes  to  the  feet  of  the  Lord,  touches  the  hem 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  -Ill 

of  His  garment,  has  communion  with  Him  in 
regard  to  all  his  offices  and  divine  graces.  Such 
converse  with  God,  especially  over  the  inspired 
volume,  secures  against  defection  and  error,  pro- 
cures pardons,  sprinkling  of  the  expiatory  blood, 
and  the  Spirit  of  adoption  ;  mortifies  secret  lurk- 
ing, insidious  sins  ;  quickens  the  pulse  of  zeal 
and  the  pace  of  service  ;  arms  for  battle,  lifts  the 
courage,  and  sweetens  the  cross." 

When  we  read  the  Scriptures  we  find  that  the 
Christian  soldier  is  expected  not  merely  to  use 
oral  prayer  in  his  closet,  but  to  be  very  fre- 
quently employed  in  offering  up  mental  and 
ejaculatory  prayers.  Thus  the  apostle  says,  in 
the  2d  chapter  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  : 
**  Stand,  therefore,  ....  and  take  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God,  praying 
always  with  all  prayer  and  supplication."  God's 
people  may  and  should  commune  with  Him  in 
their  hearts  during  the  busy  hours  of  the  day. 
When  surrounded,  moreover,  by  the  social  cir- 
cle, when  seeking  recreation,  when  walking  the 
streets,  when  pursuing  their  journeys,  when  read- 
ing and  studying,  and  when  at  their  meals,  their 
hearts  should  often  go  out  after  God,  and  they 


112  THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

should  inwardly  beg  His  blessing,  His  help,  His 
protection  and  guidance,  and  His  Holy  Spirit. 
Our  blessed  Redeemer  tells  us  that  men  ought 
always  to  pray  ;  and,  if  we  had  a  constant  sense 
of  God's  nearness  to  us,  and  of  our  great  neces- 
sities, we  would  thus  pray. 

Another  direction  in  regard  to  the  duty  of 
prayer,  which  should  be  given  to  converts,  is, 
that  they  make  supplication  to  God  not  with 
reference  to  great  and  important  matters  only, 
but  with  reference  to  matters  which  we  are  apt 
to  look  upon  as  of  trifling  import.  This  would 
only  be  obeying  the  injunction  of  the  apostle, 
*'  Be  careful  for  nothing  ;  but  in  everything  by 
prayer  and  supplication,  with  thanksgiving,  let 
your  requests  be  made  known  unto  God."  How 
often  is  it  the  case  that,  simply  because  the 
source  of  our  anxiety  seems  of  small  moment, 
we  are  averse  to  asking  for  help  and  deliver- 
ance ;  whereas,  the  apostle  says,  *'in  every- 
thing." Then,  again,  we  are  apt  to  decide,  to 
plan,  and  to  act,  with  reference  to  our  family 
and  business  affairs,  and  even  with  reference  to 
matters  pertaining  to  Christ's  kingdom,  with- 
out seeking  guidance  and  wisdom  from  above  ; 


THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  II3 

whereas,  God's  Word  says,  *'  Lean  not  to  thine 
own  understanding,  in  all  thy  ways  acknowl- 
edge Him,  and  He  will  direct  thy  steps."  *'  If 
I  have  any  affair,"  says  Cecil,  '*  to  transact  with 
another,  I  must  pray  that  God  would  be  with 
us  in  that  affair,  lest  we  should  blunder,  and  in- 
jure, and  ruin  each  other."  We  should  also 
pray  daily  for  common  mercies,  which  come 
regularly  from  the  hand  of  God.  Though  we 
always  expect  to  receive  our  daily  bread,  yet  we 
should  ever  pray  for  it.  When  we  forget  our 
dependence  on  our  Heavenly  Father  for  these 
mercies,  they  are  often  withheld  from  us. 

Social  duties. — The  social  duties  which  are  of 
a  devotional  nature  are  those  of  attending  the 
prayer-meeting,  and  of  worshipping  God  in  the 
Sanctuar}^  The  convert  cannot  be  too  earnestly 
warned  that,  as  regards  neglecting  these  duties, 
the  very  beginnings  of  neglect  are  full  of  dan- 
ger. "  He  should  be  taught  to  magnify  preach- 
ing and  prayer-meetings,  and  positively  to  ab- 
hor the  excuses  made  by  so  many  for  neglect 
and  absence." 

There  are  social  duties  besides  those*  of  a  de- 
votional nature,  concerning  which  the  Scriptures 


114  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

give  much  instruction,  but  on  these  we  have  not 
space  to  dwell. 

Other  duties  deserving  of  mention  will  be 
considered  when  we  come  to  speak  of  Chris- 
tian activities. 

DIFFICULTIES. 

We  have  mentioned  some  of  the  duties  re- 
quired of  Christ's  disciples.  In  speaking  now 
of  the  difficulties  of  living  the  Christian  life,  it 
would  be  proper  to  class  among  them  the  daily- 
practice  of  these  duties.  In  practising  them 
there  is  indeed  great  reward,  and  yet  it  is  no 
easy  thing  to  do.  The  tendency  to  indolence 
must  be  resisted.  The  soul  must  constantly 
rouse  itself  to  action.  It  must  be  energetic.  It 
must  put  forth  as  great  effort,  as  if  everything 
depended  upon  its  own  exertions,  and  yet  it 
must  rely  as  fully  and  earnestly  on  God's  help, 
as  if  no  co-operation  on  its  own  part  was  re- 
quired. Well  does  the  Christian  know  that  he 
will  fail  to  perform  his  duties,  unless  he  exerts 
himself  vigorously,  while  at  the  same  time  he 
rehes  continually  on  God  to  work  within  him, 
and  he  will  earnestly  desire  that  in  regard  to  so 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  II5 

important  a  truth,  his  young  brethren  should 
reap  the  benefit  of  his  own  experience. 

Conflicts  with  spiritual  enemies  may  also  be 
classed  among  the  Christian's  trials  and  diffi- 
culties. As  to  the  opposition  he  experiences 
from  his  spiritual  enemies  the  convert  is  in  a 
new  world.  It  is  true  that  Satan  andthe  world 
have  never  in  any  time  past  been  his  real 
friends ;  they  have  always  been  enemies  to  his 
salvation.  They  have,  however,  hitherto  per- 
mitted him  to  live  in  peace.  But  now  that  he 
has  left  their  service  and  enlisted  in  the  service 
of  the  Saviour,  their  deadly  hatred  and  oppo- 
sition to  him  and  his  course  are  fully  aroused. 
And  it  is  only  by  going  back  to  the  world  and 
by  yielding  to  Satan's  yoke  again,  that  he  can 
cease  to  be  tormented  by  their  opposition.  He 
has  then  begun  a  life  of  conflict  which  is  at- 
tended with  all  the  more  danger  to  himself  be- 
cause it  is  new  to  him.  For  his  warfare  having 
but  recently  begun  he  is  inexperienced  in  it. 
He  has  not  the  strength  and  the  wisdom  which 
are  so  important  to  enable  him  to  resist  his 
enemxies  perseveringly  and  successfully,  and  to 
enable  him  also  to  understand  and  escape  their 


Il6  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

wiles.  His  situation,  therefore,  should  awaken 
our  deepest  interest  in  him,  and  we  should  be 
fully  alive  to  the  fact  that  he  needs  all  the  help 
we  can  give  him. 

The  only  way  in  which  our  spiritual  enemies 
can  succeed  in  injuring  us  is  by  tempting  us. 
Depravity  is  not  entirely  destroyed  when  the 
soul  is  regenerated.  The  principle  of  evil  still 
exists  within  the  soul,  and  it  has  great  power. 
Our  sinful  thoughts  and  feelings  are  only  the 
actings  of  this  principle  of  evil — this  depraved 
nature.  Thus  we  are  continually  sinning  with- 
out any  temptations  to  sin.  But  we  would  not 
commit  as  many  sins  as  we  do,  if  we  were  never 
tempted.  There  is  no  compulsion.  Tempta- 
tions have  no  compelling  power.  They  do  not 
force  us  to  sin.  When  they  prevail,  therefore, 
we  are  not  innocent  and  excusable.  Still  we 
are  constantly  sinning  under  their  influence. 
Now  the  new  convert  needs  to  be  instructed  in 
regard  to  those  temptations  or  solicitations  to 
evil  which  every  advanced  Christian  is  so  famil- 
iar with. 

Our  affections  and  desires  must  have  some 
objects  to  terminate  on,  and  the  world  tempts 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  11/ 

US  by  presenting  objects  to  excite  our  inordin- 
ate or  unholy  affections  and  desires,  as  its  hon- 
ors and  pleasures.  Large  numbers  yield  to 
these  allurements  of  the  world,  pursue  the 
world's  riches  and  honors,  and  are  lost.  The 
world  also  tempts  the  timid  by  its  threats. 
These  threatenings  of  the  world's  contempt  and 
hatred  are  often  more  dreaded  than  death. 
Of  course  the  world  would  have  but  little 
power  to  tempt  were  there  no  sin  within  us — • 
were  there  no  pride,  envy,  self-seeking,  covQt- 
ousness,  ambition,  sensuality,  malice,  etc.,  to 
act  upon.  Satan  and  the  world  depend  for 
their  success  on  the  depravity  within  us.  For 
Satan  is  our  great  tempter.  He  does  not  act 
alone.  All  fallen  spirits  are  his  subordinates, 
and  he  employs  them  all.  Satan's  power,  and 
that  of  the  evil  spirits  under  him,  to  tempt,  is 
dreadful.  Repeatedly  do  the  Scriptures  cau- 
tion the  people  of  Christ  against  Satan's  de- 
vices. They  teach  us  that  Satan  never  sleeps, 
that  he  takes  us  when  we  are  off  our  guard, 
and  that  his  temptations  are  subtle  and  hard 
to  be  detected.  It  is  fearful  to  think  that  no 
Christian  ever  passes  a  long  time  without  be- 


Il8  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

ing  tempted  by  Satan,  but  it  is  comforting  to 
know  that  our  Saviour  is  infinitely  more  pow- 
erful than  he  is,  and  that  He  is  wiUing  to  pro- 
tect us  from  being  tempted  and  to  deliver  us 
when  temptation  comes.  But  besides  appeal- 
ing to  Christ  as  our  Saviour,  our  King,  to  pro- 
tect us,  we  are  to  use  those  means  of  resistance 
— those  weapons  described  in  Eph.  vi.  11-18. 

The  afflictions  which  are  peculiar  to  the 
Christian  make  it  difficult  for  the  believer  to 
live  in  such  a  way  as  to  glorify  the  Saviour  and 
make  His  religion  lovely  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world.  Therefore,  the  Christian's  afflictions 
should  be  mentioned  in  any  enumeration  which 
may  be  made  of  the  believer's  difficulties,  since 
there  is  great  danger  that  while  pressed  down 
by  them,  he  will  manifest  an  unsubmissive  and 
unbelieving  spirit.  That  it  is  necessary  that 
Christ's  people  should  suffer  is  plainly  taught 
us.  ^'  If  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  Him,"  says 
the  apostle,  writing  to  the  Roman  Christians. 
"  Beloved,"  says  the  Apostle  Peter,  ''think  it 
not  strange  concerning  the  fiery  trial  which  is 
to  try  you  :  as  though  some  strange  thing  hap- 
pened unto  you,  but  rejoice,  inasmuch  as  ye 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERT'S.  1 19 

are  partakers  of  Christ's  sufferings  ;  that,  when 
His  glory  shall  be  revealed,  ye  may  be  glad 
also  with  exceeding  joy."  Thus  it  appears  that 
we  shall  not  share  with  Christ  in  His  exaltation 
and  glory,  unless  we  are  partakers  of  His  suf- 
ferings. But  the  new  convert,  if  left  to  himself, 
will  not  speedily  learn  how  to  interpret  afflic- 
tions, nor  how  to  behave  under  them,  nor  how 
to  use  them.  If  you  yourself  have  been  meas- 
urably faithful  in  following  Christ  you  under- 
stand more  about  the  peculiar  trials  of  God's 
people  than  young  believers  do,  and  are  in 
some  degree  competent  to  be  of  service  to 
them. 

Ministers  of  the  gospel  too  often  pursue  a  dif- 
ferent course  in  their  efforts  to  aid  converts 
from  that  which  our  Saviour  and  the  apostles 
took.  They  give  little  warning  of  the  trials 
through  which  God  calls  all  His  people  to  pass. 
**  If  any  man,"  says  our  Lord,  ''  will  be  my  disci- 
ple, let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross, 
and  follow  me."  And  the  apostle  warned  his 
converts  that  they  must  "  through  much  tribu- 
lation enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  But  it 
may  be    asked,  why  should   we,  in  the  com- 


I20  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

mencement  of  the  Christian  life,  be  told  of 
coming  trials  which  may  discourage  us.  The 
answer  to  this  is,  that  in  the  matter  of  being 
Christ's  disciples  it  is  better  to  count  the  cost 
in  the  very  outset.  When  we  know  before- 
hand what  we  must  encounter,  we  shall  be  bet- 
ter prepared  for  the  difficulties  which  lie  in  the 
way,  than  if  we  start  with  false  expectations. 
Besides,  the  service  of  Christ  is  a  willing  ser- 
vice, and  this  requires  that  the  true  state  of  the 
case  should  be  fairly  presented.  It  would,  in- 
deed, be  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
and  also  to  the  experience  of  God's  people  to 
affirm  that  a  holy  life  is  an  unhappy  one. 
None  know  what  true  happiness  is  except 
Christians.  But  to  endure  the  afflictions  which 
are  the  peculiar  experience  of  God's  children 
is  perfectly  compatible  with  the  possession  of 
that  peace  which  the  world  knows  not  of. 

While  the  convert  is  plainly  warned  by  the 
Saviour  and  His  inspired  servants  of  the  diffi- 
culties and  dangers  which  will  beset  his  path, 
he  is  also  encouraged  by  many  promises.  He 
is  assured  that  the  diligent  use  of  the  means  of 
grace  shall  certainly  be  rewarded  with  success, 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  121 

and  that  the  faithful  servant  of  Jesus  shall  con- 
tinually have  the  sympathy,  approval,  and  pres- 
ence of  the  Master,  and  the  powerful  aids  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 


PRIVILEGES  AND   SPIRITUAL  GIFTS. 

Love,  faith,  self-knowledge,  a  heart  to  forgive 
enemies,  a  spirit  of  prayer,  of  liberality,  and  of 
self-denial  are,  as  has  been  already  said.  Chris- 
tian duties.  But  they  are  also  gifts.  A  knowl- 
edge of  self  must  not  be  considered  an  exception. 
It  also  is  a  gift.  It  is  as  much  a  gift  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  faith  or  love.  It  consists  mainly 
in  a  sense  of  indwelling  sin.  The  true  believer 
does  not  dread  to  possess  this  knowledge  or 
consciousness  of  his  inward  pollution  and  sin- 
ful weakness.  On  the  contrary  he  is  grateful 
to  the  Holy  Spirit  for  enabling  him  to  see  his 
own  vileness.  He  mourns  to  think  of  the  de- 
ceitfulness  of  his  heart  which  so  long  prevented 
him  from  perceiving  the  depth  of  the  iniquity 
lodged  within  him.  He  desires  to  be  less  de- 
ceived than  he  even  still  is — in  other  words  to 
have  his  sense  of  his  sinfulness  deepened,  be- 

6 


122  THE  SAVIOUR'S    CONVERTS. 

cause  he  loves  all  truth  even  the  real  truth 
about  himself.  Another  reason  why  he  desires 
to  grow  in  the  knowledge  of  his  vileness  and 
ill  desert  is  because  such  growth  (as  he  has 
learned  by  experience)  is  accompanied  with 
increasing  love  to  Jesus.  It  is  accompanied 
with  steadily  increasing  love  and  gratitude  to 
Jesus,  while  it  is  not  attended  with  the  least 
fear  of  suffering  the  punishment  deserved. 

The  indwelHng  sin  of  which  the  believer  is 
conscious,  occupies — if  he  is  a  spiritually  mind- 
ed Christian — much  of  his  attention,  and  he  is 
constantly  confessing  it  to  God.  But  the  love 
to  God,  and  trust  in  Jesus  which  he  is  also  con- 
scious that  he  possesses,  occupy  but  little  of 
his  attention.  He  feels  no  inclination  to  con- 
template them,  much  less  to  admire  them. 
Still,  it  is  a  great  blessing  to  have  a  vivid  con- 
sciousness of  their  existence,  because  this  is  one 
of  the  ways  by  which  the  Christian  obtains  an 
assurance  of  his  own  salvation,  though  it  is  true 
that  he  mainly  rests  his  assurance  on  what  is 
out  of  himself  and  not  on  what  he  finds  within 
himself. 

In  regard  to   this  gift  or  privilege,  which  all 


THE    SAVIOUR'S    CONVERTS.  1 2$ 

converts  should  desire  to  possess — the  privilege 
sometimes  called  the  full  assurance  of  hope — we 
have  several  things  to  say.  (i.)  It  is  enjoyed 
by  some  from  the  very  beginning  of  their 
Christian  course.  In  the  case  of  some  the 
Holy  Spirit  bears  witness  with  their  spirits  that 
they  are  children  of  God,  even  when  they  are 
first  regenerated.  There  is  no  certainty,  how- 
ever, that  they  will  not  lose  their  assurance  un- 
less they  continue  to  use  the  means  of  grace 
with  energy — to  be  very  prayerful,  watchful, 
and  diligent  in  practising  universal  holiness. 
The  Protestant  Reformers  never  seem  to  have 
lost  that  assurance  of  their  own  salvation, 
which  was  given  them  at  the  time  of  their  con- 
version. (2.)  One  may  be  a  true  believer  with- 
out possessing  this  gift;  2.^.,  full  assurance  is 
not  of  the  essence  of  faith.  Let  it  be  under- 
stood what  we  mean  to  deny,  and  what  we  in- 
tend to  affirm  by  this  proposition.  I  deny  that 
if  I  .trust  in  Jesus  to  save  me  an  assurance  that 
He  loves  me  is  essential  to  this  trust.  But  I  do 
not  deny,  but  affirm,  that  some  degree  of  belief 
that  He  loves  me  is  essential  to  the  existence  of 
this  trust.     And  my  feeble  belief  that  I  am  the 


124  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

object  of  His  love  will  rise  to  an  assurance  of  it 
when  my  trust  in  Him  as  my  Saviour  becomes 
very  vigorous.  Our  Catechism  defines  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ  to  be  a  saving  grace,  whereby  we 
rest  upon  Christ  for  salvation.  Now  how  can 
I  truly  rest  upon  Christ  for  my  salvation  with- 
out having  a  particle  of  belief  that  I  am  an 
object  of  His  love.  To  be  totally  destitute  of 
belief  in  His  love  for  me,  and  yet  to  rest  even 
feebly  upon  Him  to  save  me  is  an  impossibility. 
But,  as  was  said,  a/////  assurance  that  He  loves 
us  does  not  necessarily  enter  into  our  faith — in 
other  words,  is  not  essential  to  the  existence  of 
faith,  as  is  proved  by  the  experience  of  very 
many  of  God's  people.  (3.)  Some  are  quite 
confident  that  they  are  in  the  favor  of  God  and 
estate  of  salvation,  who  are  mistaken  notwith- 
standing. ''That  unregenerate  men,  beguiled 
by  the  natural  desire  for  happiness,  flattered 
by  self-love,  and  betrayed  by  a  spirit  of  self- 
righteousness,  and  self-confidence,  should  some- 
times indulge  an  unfounded  assurance  of  their 
own  gracious  condition,  is  rendered  antece- 
dently probable  from  what  we  know  of  human 
nature,  and  rendered  certain  as  a  fact  from  com- 


THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  125 

mon  observation,  and  from  the  declarations  of 
Scripture."  (4.)  The  attainment  of  this  assur- 
ance is  a  Christian  duty.  It  is  made  a  duty  in 
Scripture.,  In  Heb.  vi.  11,  we  are  exhorted 
"  to  show  the  same  dihgence  to  the  full  assur- 
ance of  hope  unto  the  end."  We  are  convinced 
that  its  attainment  is  a  duty,  when  we  consider 
also  what  naturally  and  inevitably  accompanies 
it — desires  for  still  more  intimate  fellowship  with 
God,  increased  diligence  in  efforts  to  obey  and 
glorify  the  Saviour,  humility,  gratitude,  and  lib- 
eration from  that  anxiety  about  our  oivii  spiritual 
state  which  stands  in  the  way  of  our  helping 
others.  (5.)  The  directions  which  we  would 
give  to  converts  as  to  the  way  of  arriving  at 
a  full  assurance  of  their  own  salvation  are 
these : 

First.  Obtain  clear  views  of  the  way  of  salva- 
tion, especially  of  the  truth  that  believers  in 
Christ  are  free  from  the  law  as  prescribing  the 
terms  of  acceptance  with  God,  while  the  Sav- 
iour's righteousness  avails  to  justify  them  ;  they 
being  bound  now  and  forever  to  obey  the  per- 
fect law  as  a  rule  of  duty.  Contemplate  these 
truths  long  and   often,  with  prayer,  that  they 


126  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS. 

may  command  your  full  and  joyful  acquiescence, 
and  may  never  be  lost  sight  of. 

Second.  Remember  that  what  authorizes  us 
to  come  to  Christ  is  not  any  peculiar  experience 
which  we  may  have  in  our  souls,  but  God's  free, 
perfectly  generous,  unconditional  promise  to  ac- 
cept all  coming  sinners — that  when  we  wait  un- 
til we  find  in  ourselves  some  peculiar  experience 
as  our  warrant  for  coming,  we  just  hinder  our- 
selves from  being  saved.  And,  remembering 
this,  come  (the  coming  is  to  be  constantly  re- 
peated), RELYING  on  this  promise  as  thus  per- 
fectly free  and  unconditional. 

Third.  Since  your  trust  in  Christ  is  capable 
of  being  greatly  strengthened,  use  every  means 
to  strengthen  it  pointed  out  by  the  inspired 
writers,  especially  prayer.  For,  as  soon  as 
your  grasp  of  Christ  is  a  powerful  grasp,  you 
will  have  not  a  faint  belief,  but  a  full  assurance 
that  he  loves  you. 

Fourth.  Make  much  of  the  verse,  Rom  v.  5, 
where  we  are  told  that  the  Holy  Spirit  produces 
in  the  believer  an  immediate  consciousness  that 
he  is  the  object  of  God's  love.  The  words  in 
that  verse  are,  "  And  hope  maketh  not  ashamed, 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  12/ 

because  the  love  of  God  [God's  love  to  us]  is 
shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
which  is  given  unto  us."  Pray  very  importu- 
nately that  the  Holy  Spirit  would  give  you  this 
inward  persuasion  that  God  loves  you.  Ask 
until  you  receive. 

Fifth.  Grow  in  grace,  in  order  to  which  be  ex- 
ceedingly diligent  in  using  the  means  of  grace. 

It  was  said  that  when  faith,  the  faith  which 
has  Christ  for  its  object,  the  faith  which  truly 
lays  hold  upon  Him,  is  exceedingly  strong  and 
active,  there  will  be  a  full  assurance  of  His  love. 
How  precious  then  is  this  faith  !  What  can  we 
more  earnestly  desire  than  that  it  should  not 
only  be  preserved,  but  daily  increase  in  power. 
It  is,  however,  the  special  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  watch  over  this  life-giving  faith  in 
Jesus,  to  nourish  it,  and  make  it  more  and  more 
vigorous.  Let  every  convert,  then,  unwearledly 
and  importunately  entreat  his  Heavenly  Father 
to  give  His  Holy  Spirit,  pleading  His  own  prom- 
ise to  give  this  blessing  to  those  who  ask  Him. 
We  have  already  said  that  the  witnessing  of  the 
Spirit,  the  shedding  abroad  by  the  Spirit  of 
God's  love  in   the  heart,   must  be  sought  by 


128  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS. 

prayer.  In  no  other  way  can  the  witnessing 
of  the  divine  Comforter  be  obtained. 

In  regard  to  a  full  assurance  of  salvation,  we 
think  some  sad  mistakes  are  made  by  many. 

I.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  piety 
of  those  who  enjoy  a  full  assurance  is  different 
in  its  nature  from  the  piety  of  those  who  have 
not  attained  to  an  assurance.  It  is  claimed  by 
a  certain  class  of  Christians  that  their  religious 
experience  has  undergone  such  a  change  that 
they  now  have  no  occasion  to  cry  "  Who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  !  "  They 
have  passed  out  of  the  bondage  of  the  seventh 
chapter  of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans  into  the 
sweet  liberty  of  the  eighth.  They  are  inwardly 
conscious  that  they  exercise  a  new  faith  which 
receives  Christ  for  everything.  Only  to  those 
who  possess  this  new  faith — who  have  thus  en- 
tered "  by  the  right  principle  upon  the  process 
of  sanctification,"  can  the  full  assurance  of  their 
own  salvation  belong.  Thus,  the  spiritual  life 
of  those  who  have  this  inward  certainty  differs 
in  kind  from  that  of  those  who  have  it  not. 

The  very  statement  of  this  error  is  its  own 
refutation.     We  all  feel  that  the  life  of  God  in 


THE  SAVIOUR'S    CONVERTS,  129 

the  soul  of  one  believer  is  necessarily  the  same 
that  it  is  in  the  souls  of  all  other  believers.  All 
who  are  united  to  Christ  by  the  indwelling  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  possess  the  same  life  which 
abides  in  Him.  But  all  believers  are  united  to 
Christ  by  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
and  therefore  all  believers,  those  assured  of 
their  own  salvation  and  those  without  this  as- 
surance, have  precisely  the  same  life. 

2.  It  is  a  mistake  to  feel  certain  that  only  a 
few  believers  possess  assurance. 

Did  we  know  that  a  very  great  degree  of 
piety  is  essential  to  its  possession,  there  might 
be  some  reason  for  our  having  this  certainty. 
But  the  Holy  Spirit  can  give  assurance  to  one 
in  whom  spiritual  life  is  not  remarkably  vigor- 
ous, and  this  assurance  thus  bestowed  may  lead 
to  greater  attainments  in  holiness.  Doubtless 
many  Christians  of  great  experience  and  deep 
piety  often  have  anxiety  and  fears  which  many 
who  are  less  holy  are  free  from.  At  any  rate, 
there  are  thousands  of  truly  contrite  souls,  and 
to  whom  the  Saviour  will  say  in  that  day, 
"  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,"  whose  fu- 
ture prospects  are  obscured   because  of  their 


130  THE  SAVIOUR'S    CONVERTS. 

doubts  respecting  their  own  spiritual  condition  ; 
while  there  may  be  many  inferior  to  these  in 
experience  and  depth  of  piety,  but  who  have 
the  simple,  implicit  faith  of  httle  children,  ac- 
companied with  assurance  of  hope. 

3.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  it  is  unsafe 
and  even  dangerous  for  Christians  to  be  assured 
of  their  own  salvation. 

The  enjoyment  of  assurance  would,  indeed, 
be  unsafe  and  injurious,  did  it  have  a  tendency, 
as  some  suppose  it  has,  to  lead  to  carelessness, 
inattention  to  the  duties  of  religion,  pride,  or 
presumption.  But  it  has  no  such  tendency. 
In  the  case  of  true  Christians,  genuine  assur- 
ance leads  to  unfeigned  humility,  increased  dili- 
gence in  the  practice  of  holiness,  and  constant 
longings  after  more  intimate  fellowship  with 
God.  It  is  only  when  assurance  is  spurious 
that  its  effects  are  self-righteousness,  neglect 
of  duty,  indulgence  in  sin,  hardness  of  heart, 
and  selfishness.  Let  no  one  suppose  that 
either  ardent  love  for  Jesus,  lively  gratitude  for 
salvation,  tender  pity  for  the  perishing,  or  any 
other  fruit  of  holiness,  will  be  wanting  in  one 
who  is  fully  assured  of  God's  love  for  him,  pro- 


THE    SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS,  13 1 

vided  his  assurance  is  produced  by  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

It  would,  also,  be  attended  with  loss  to  its 
possessor,  did  it  cause  him  to  be  in  a  great 
measure  exempt  from  affliction.  There  are 
graces  which  could  never  be  exercised,  except 
under  affliction.  God  sends  trials  upon  all  His 
people,  because  it  is  necessary  that  they  should 
experience  them.  Assurance  has  no  tendency 
to  dull,  natural  sensibility. 

Nor  could  any  one,  without  injury  to  himself, 
be  in  possession  of  this  gift  or  privilege,  did  it 
have  the  effect  of  turning  away  his  attention 
from  the  sin  which  dwells  within  him.  Some 
appear  to  think  that  assurance  has  this  effect, 
and,  indeed,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  very 
reason  why  they  value  it  so  highly,  is  the  fact 
that  it  introduces  its  possessor,  as  they  sup- 
pose, into  a  state  in  which,  if  there  is  any  sin 
remaining  within  him,  it  no  longer  afflicts  him. 
But  one  feeling  his  own  exceeding  sinfulness 
may  be  burdened,  grieved,  afflicted  without  hav- 
ing any  alarm  or  painful  fears  of  suffering  the 
penalty  due  to  sin.  If  I  am  assured  that  Jesus 
loves  me,  and  will  never  cease  to  love  me — that 


132  THE  SAVIOUR'S    CONVERTS. 

even  while  I  am  here  in  the  body,  my  perfect 
salvation  has  had  its  beginning,  and,  that  now 
I  am  forever  safe,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  be 
distressed  by  fears  that  sin  will  ever  triumph 
over  me.  I  know  it  never  will.  I  even  know 
that  the  time  is  near  when  I  shall  be  made  per- 
fect in  holiness.  But  I  may  still — indeed,  I  must 
still — be  burdened  and  afflicted  by  the  con- 
sciousness of  indwelling  corruption.  If  I  am 
deeply  in  love  with  holiness,  and  truly  hate  sin, 
how  can  my  assurance  of  my  own  salvation 
make  me  cease  to  grieve  that  that  which  I  hate 
is  ever  present  with  me,  is  ever  within  me.  I 
must  be  afflicted,  and  there  will  be  times  when 
I  shall  be  full  of  sorrow.  "  Although  the  re- 
generate believer  is  not  in  the  total  and  hope- 
less slavery  of  the  unregenerate  man,  he  is  yet 
under  so  much  of  a  bondage  as  to  prevent  per- 
fect obedience  ;  to  make  him  poor  in  spirit, 
*  weary  and  heavy  laden,'  and  to  force  from 
him  the  cry :  '  O,  wretched  man,  who  shall 
deHver  me  ?  "*  *  If  the  principle  of  holiness, 
and  the  principle  of  sin   exist  together  in  the 

*  Dr.  Shedd's  *'Com.  on  Romans." 


THE    SAVIOUR'S    CONVERTS.  1 33 

soul,  they  must  oppose  each  other  ;  there  must 
be  a  "  warring,"  Rom.  vii.  23  ;  the  beUever's 
whole  life  must  be  a  conflict.  But  even  while 
he  struggles  against  sin  he  can  exclaim  :  *'  I 
thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord," 
because  he  knows  that  this  conflict  is  not  to 
result  in  the  victory  of  sin,  but  in  the  triumph 
of  grace.  Some  seem  to  think  that  to  be  con- 
scious of  indwelling  sin,  and  to  feel,  with  much 
grief,  its  great  power,  is  the  same  as  to  be  un- 
der condemnation,"  whereas  one  of  the  strong- 
est proofs  that  a  man  \'=>  free  from  condemnation, 
is  that  he  not  only  admits  in  words,  that  sin 
dwells  within  him,  but  is  deeply  conscious  of  it, 
is  burdened  by  it,  and  perseveringly  struggles 
against  it. 

It  is  not,  then,  attended  with  danger  or  any 
evil  whatever  for  a  true  believer  to  have  an  as- 
surance of  his  ovv^n  salvation. 

4.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that,  where  one 
has  spiritual  life  abiding  within  him,  the  best 
way  for  him  to  arrive  at  an  assurance  of  it  is 
to  look  within  for  the  purpose  of  examining  his 
own  heart.  At  the  very  time  when  he  is  look- 
ing away  from  himself  to  Christ,  and  is  dwell- 


134  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

ing  long  and  constantly  on  the  sweetness,  glory, 
and  loveliness  of  Jesus,  and  on  His  infinite  kind- 
ness and  grace,  he  may  have  in  his  soul  a  con- 
sciousness that  he  loves  Christ,  and  an  assur- 
ance that  Christ  loves  him.  You  are,  indeed, 
commanded  to  examine  yourself,  and  you  must 
obey  the  command.  But  where  did  you  ever 
learn,  that  when  the  apostle,  or  rather  the  Holy 
Spirit  sets  this  duty  before  us,  he  meant  that  it 
is  to  be  performed  by  looking  within,  by  acts  of 
introspection.  There  are  much  better  ways  of 
examining  ourselves  than  that.  If  our  object  in 
examining  ourselves  is  to  see  whether  we  are 
Christians  or  not,  we  should,  instead  of  analyz- 
ing our  experiences,  inquire  whether  we  love 
and  worship  Jesus  as  God,  receive  His  doc- 
trines, trust  in  His  sacrifice  and  intercession, 
obey,  trust  in,  and  serve  Him  as  our  King.  We 
shall  be  assisted  to  answer  these  questions,  if 
we  place  the  divine  object  of  the  Christian's 
faith  and  love  before  our  minds,  and  contem- 
plate His  Person,  His  perfections.  His  wonder- 
ful, sweet  condescension  and  love.  As  for  ex- 
amining ourselves  to  see  whether  our  conduct 
be    consistent,    and    our    motives    pure,    and 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  1 35 

whether  our  progress  in  the  divine  Hfe  is  what 
it  ought  to  be,  tJiat  should  be  a  daily  exercise. 
We  should  call  ourselves  to  account  every  day, 
to  see  where  we  have  failed.* 

5.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that,  unless  one 
has  a  settled  assurance,  he  never  can  have  mo- 
ments of  gladness  and  peace. 

Even  believers  who  are  not  fully  assured  of 
their  salvation  have  received  a  new  nature, 
have  been  justified,  and  made  the  children  of 
God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ  of  eternal 
glory.  They,  therefore,  cannot  be  destitute 
of  comfort.  They  have  more  or  less  of  the 
spirit  of  adoption.  They  often  enjoy  prayer. 
There  are  times  when  their  graces  are  in  live- 
ly exercise.  They  are  happy  in  doing  good, 
and  they  enjoy  the  society  of  their  fellow  Chris- 
tians. 

It  seems  unnecessary  to  spend  any  time  in 
pointing  out  the  advantages  which  those  believ- 
ers who  enjoy  this  assurance  have  over  those 
who  are  destitute  of  it.  No  man  or  angel  ever 
did   or  ever  will  enjoy  a  greater  good  than  to 

*  Dr.  Hodge's  "  Conference  Papers." 


13^  THE   SAVIOUR'S    CONVERTS. 

be  loved  by  Christ.  How  delightful  and  ani- 
mating, then,  to  have  a  perfect  assurance  in  my 
soul  that  He  loves  me,  provided  this  assurance 
is  not  spurious,  but  is  produced  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Besides,  is  it  not  natural  to  suppose 
that  the  Christian  who  possesses  this  assurance 
will  oftener  than  others  have  spiritual  peace 
and  joy,  great  love  and  thankfulness  to  God, 
and  buoyancy,  strength,  and  cheerfulness  in  the 
practice  of  obedience  in  every  department  of 
duty  ?  No  wonder  the  Bible  commands  all  to 
strive  to  possess  this  gift.  Let  no  convert  put 
off  using  the  means  to  secure  it.  Nothing  is 
gained  by  delay.  No  one  has  a  right  to  tell 
you  that  you  must  wait  long  before  the  bless- 
ing can  be  yours. 

That  Bunyan  believed  in  the  possibility  of 
even  new  converts  possessing  a  full  assurance 
of  their  acceptance,  is  evident  from  what  he 
says  of  Christian's  roll,  given  him  by  one  of  the 
shining  ones  soon  after  he  began  his  pilgrim- 
age. It  will  be  remembered  that  when  Chris- 
tian came  up  to  the  cross  his  burden  loosed 
from  off  his  shoulders  and  fell  from  him.  Then 
he  stood  awhile  to  look  and  wonder.     **  Now," 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  137 

says  Bunyan,  *'  as  he  stood  looking  and  weep- 
ing, behold  three  shining  ones  came  to  him  and 
saluted  him  with  *  Peace  be  to  thee.'  So  the 
first  said  to  him  :  *  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee  ;  * 
the  second  stripped  him  of  his  rags  and  clothed 
him  with  a  change  of  raiment ;  the  third  also 
set  a  mark  on  his  forehead,  and  gave  him  a  roll 
with  a  seal  upon  it,  which  he  bid  him  look  on 
as  he  ran,  and  that  he  should  give  it  in  at  the 
Celestial  Gate."  It  was  because  this  roll  was 
the  assurance  of  his  life  and  acceptance,  that  he 
so  greatly  bewailed  its  loss  through  his  sinful 
sleep  at  the  pleasant  arbor. 

We  are  on  the  subject  of  the  Christian's  privi- 
leges, which  all  converts  should  desire  to  possess, 
and  the  one  on  which  we  have  chiefly  dwelt  is 
that  of  an  assurance  of  salvation.  In  addition 
to  this  there  are  privileges  which  many — both 
those  who  have  received,  and  those  who  have 
not  received  an  assurance  of  their  own  salva- 
tion— enjoy,  as,  great  liberty  in  prayer  ;  clear, 
spiritual  discernment ;  frequent  gracious  prompt- 
ings, and  movements  of  the  indwelling  Spirit ; 
strength  to  yield  to  those  promptings  and  thus 
to  avoid   grieving   the   Spirit ;  great  ease  and 


138  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

readiness  in  interceding  for  others ;  the  power 
of  turning  the  thought  Godward  and  heaven- 
ward ;  dehverance  from  fear  of  death  ;  wisdom 
in  counselling  and  comforting  others  in  their 
spiritual  difficulties  ;  .the  happiness  of  being  the 
objects  of  the  love  of  the  most  spiritually  mind- 
ed, etc.  When  we  have  power  given  us  to  see 
things  of  a  temporal  nature  in  their  true  light, 
in  the  Hght  of  the  Bible,  in  the  light  of  eternity, 
in  the  hght  in  which  God  and  angels  look  upon 
them,  we  are  highly  favored  and  enjoy  a  great 
privilege.  We  are  highly  privileged  when  the 
Holy  Spirit  enables  us  to  glory  in  infirmities — 
to  see  that  our  afflictions  which  weigh  us  down, 
are  working  out  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory. 

The  more  closely  we  walk  with  God  the 
greater  are  our  privileges. 

The  high  privileges  of  the  believer  are  within 
the  reach  of  all  God's  people,  and  the  attention 
of  converts  should  be  called  to  them,  and  they 
should  endeavor  to  attain  them  and  should  be 
encouraged  to  do  so. 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  139 

ACTIVITIES. 

The  convert  is  not  sufficiently  aware  of  the 
importance  of  beginning  to  exert  himself  at 
once  for  the  good  of  others.  His  life  flows  in 
one  current.  He  is  apt  to  be  engrossed  in  one 
thing.  It  is  characteristic  of  converts  to  be 
much  absorbed  in  their  own  happiness  and 
blessedness.  They  forget  that  in  a  good  sense 
they  are  now  to  be  proselyters.  This  truth  was 
understood  by  the  first  converts.  So  active  in 
efforts  to  save  their  fellow  men  were  the  hun- 
dred and  twenty  disciples  in  Jerusalem  (Acts  i. 
15)  that  before  the  lapse  of  many  years,  Christ's 
disciples  were  numerous  in  all  parts  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire.  Many  suppose  that  Christ's  great 
commission  was  addressed  exclusively  to  minis- 
ters, but  this  is  an  error.  Each  church  member 
should  consider  that  commission  as  binding  Jiim 
to  disciple  others  to  the  extent  of  his  power. 
How  affecting  is  the  call  to  labor  for  the  salva- 
tion of  souls.  The  harvest  is  still  plenteous  and 
the  laborers  are  still  few. 

We  will  first  speak  of  efforts  for  the  salvation 
of  individuals.     All  true  Christians  exert  them- 


140  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

selves  to  some  extent  to  further  the  interests  of 
the  Saviour's  kingdom,  but  most  fail  to  put 
forth  personal  efforts  for  individuals.  And  yet 
it  is  obvious  to  all  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
can  be  extended  in  our  world  only  by  the  ac- 
cession of  individuals.  *'  His  blood  avails  not 
to  the  salvation  of  men  in  the  mass,  but  to 
those  who  individually  repent  of  sin,  and  accept 
of  His  mercy.  The  Holy  Spirit  strives  with  men, 
and  sanctifies  them  only  as  individuals.  It  is  as 
individuals  that  the  inhabitants  of  our  world 
must  be  raised  to  heaven  or  sink  to  hell.  Yet 
to  how  great  an  extent  are  the  prayers  of  Chris- 
tians offered,  indefinitely  for  the  conversion  of 
the  world  as  a  whole,  while  the  salvation  of  no 
one  individual  is  the  object  of  their  personal 
and  persevering  endeavors." 

Not  merely  want  of  zeal  and  of  warmth  of 
piety  hinder  some  Christians  from  addressing 
the  impenitent,  but  they  suppose  it  to  be  a  work 
which  calls  for  superior  talent  or  knowledge  on 
the  part  of  him  who  performs  it,  and  they  imag- 
ine that  they  are  not  possessed  of  these  qualifi- 
cations. They  are  entirely  mistaken.  No  re- 
markable  gift  of  speech  is  required.     All  one 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  141 

needs  is  to  have  a  heart  for  the  work,  and  that 
can  be  obtained.  A  single  sentence,  uttered 
with  earnestness  and  feeling,  has  often  proved 
an  arrow  from  God's  bow.  The  shipmaster 
who  spoke  to  Jonah  (Jonah  i.  6)  was  probably 
no  remarkable  specimen  of  intelligence  or  tal- 
ent, and  yet  he  was  able  to  cry,  **  What  mean- 
est thou,  O  sleeper?  arise,  call  upon  thy  God." 
Let  not  the  convert  put  off  speaking  to  the  im- 
penitent under  the  impression  that  he  lacks  the 
needed  talent.  He  has  the  gift  in  sufficient 
measure,  and  it  is  capable  of  being  improved 
by  use.  It  is  also  his  privilege  to  pray  for  an 
increase  of  skill  in  addressing  the  unconverted. 
**  The  church  of  modern  times  has  never 
yet  called  into  action  one  fiftieth  part  of  the 
strength  which  it  really  possesses.  Among  its 
members  there  are  hundreds,  there  are  thou- 
sands who  have  done  nothing  for  Christ.  What- 
ever may  be  its  cause,  this  silence  of  Christians 
is  the  undoing  of  thousands.  It  may  be  indo- 
lence, it  may  be  timidity,  it  may  be  mistaken 
affection,  it  may  be  mere  procrastination  with- 
out any  assignable  reason,  but  its  results  are 
the  same,  and  those  results  are  tremendous  be- 


142  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS. 

yond  description.  Whatever  may  be  the  piety 
and  devotedness  of  ministers  of  the  gospel  the 
world  will  remain  unsaved,  while  the  conver- 
sion of  sinners  is  left  to  them.  To  warn  the 
sinner  of  the  doom  which  awaits  him,  and  to 
warn  him  now,  while  yet  there  remains  a  way 
of  escape,  is  therefore  the  sacred  obligation  of 
all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity. 
It  is  true  that  not  one  has  died  in  his  sins  but 
has  justly  perished  by  his  own  iniquity,  but  that 
is  no  excuse  for  us.  The  guilt  of  those  who 
perish  cannot  justify  our  negligence.  Every 
Christian  must  feel  his  ovv^n  responsibility  and 
make  it  one  subject  of  his  daily  prayers  that 
God  would  make  him  instrumental  in  winning 
souls.  Devoted,  personal,  and  unremitting  ef- 
fort on  the  part  of  the  whole  body  of  the  faith- 
ful, would  bring  down  such  a  blessing  that  there 
would  be  no  room  to  contain  it,  the  wilderness 
and  the  solitary  place  would  be  glad,  and  the 
desert  would  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose  ; 
churches  and  pastors  would  be  doubled  and 
quadrupled  ;  repeated  success  would  embolden 
the  timid  and  encourage  the  desponding,  and 
each  new  convert  would  immediately  become  a 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  143 

valuable  auxiliary  to  the  great  cause  of  truth 
and  holiness." 

As  this  little  book  may  fall  into  the  hands  of 
some  new  disciple,  we  would  urge  on  him  the 
importance  of  beginning  at  once  to  seek  to  save 
souls.  Avoid  everything  which  experience 
teaches  you  will  make  it  difficult  to  address  the 
unconverted. 

Do  not  forget  relatives  while  exerting  your- 
self for  others. 

Be  encouraged  by  the  thought  that  while  you 
are  endeavoring  to  save  others  your  own  soul 
is  receiving  benefit. 

Think  of  the  joy  of  meeting  those  you  have 
been  the  means  of  saving  in  heaven.  *'  Your 
worldly  labors,  however  unblamable,  can  carry 
no  fruit  into  heaven.  Whereas  your  labors  in 
the  cause  of  Christ  are  all  to  reappear  in  that 
day.  The  souls  you  may  convert  from  the  er- 
ror of  their  ways,  and  save  from  death,  shall  be 
with  you  in  heaven,  and  to  all  eternity.  Faint 
not,  therefore,  but  boldly  face  and  undertake 
your  duty  in  reference  to  this  department  of 
Christian  activity." 

Not  only  would  you  be  honored  and  blessed 


144  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

should  you  be  instrumental  in  the  conversion 
of  souls,  but  the  Saviour  would  thereby  be 
glorified.  This  motive  should  be  stronger  than 
any  other  which  can  influence  you  to  seek  the 
salvation  of  your  fellow  men.  Whenever  a  sin- 
ner is  saved — saved  in  spite  of  the  fearful  diffi- 
culties in  the  way,  and  the  opposition  of  Satan 
and  all  his  hosts,  Jesus  is  victorious — He  is  glori- 
fied, a  new  star  is  added  to  His  crown.  Perhaps 
our  prayers  and  labors  for  the  conversion  of 
men  would  more  frequently  be  blessed  to  their 
salvation,  were  we,  in  the  efiforts  which  we  put 
forth,  more  influenced  by  the  desire  that  our 
blessed  Redeemer  should  be  glorified. 

Pray  much  that  you  may  be  successful,  but 
do  not  be  discouraged,  should  you  not  always 
succeed.  Disappointment  in  one  quarter  may 
be  counterbalanced  by  success  in  another. 

Use  various  means.  "An  affectionate  and 
faithful  letter  to  an  unconverted  acquaintance 
is  often  the  very  message  to  be  owned  of  the 
Spirit."  But  whatever  means  you  may  employ, 
follow  up  your  effort  by  subsequent  endeavors. 
For  your  encouragement  remember  the  great 
usefulness  which  has  attended  the  persevering 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  145 

exertions  of  many,  no  more  gifted  or  fitted  for 
the  work  than  you  are. 

If  you  are  faithful  in  efforts  to  save  your  fel- 
low men,  you  will  set  an  example  to  Christians 
around  you  which  will  have  its  effect.  Even 
ministers  may  be  stirred  up  to  exertion,  and 
make  greater  efforts  for  the  souls  of  individuals, 
when  they  witness  the  activity  of  the  Church's 
converts. 

Seek  to  have  an  Intense  conviction  of  the 
truth  of  all  that  is  said  in  the  Bible,  both  as  to 
the  worth  of  the  soul,  and  the  misery  of  impeni- 
tent sinners.  A  deep  conviction  of  the  truth  is 
necessary  to  strengthen  your  hands.  Your 
spiritual  power  as  a  laborer  must  be  feeble  if 
you  only  half  believe  God's  assurances,  while 
if  you  beheve  mightily,  your  influence  over 
others  for  God  will  be  correspondingly  great. 

Remember  that  while  God  alone  can  give  us 
anxiety  for  sinners,  he  will  give  us  that  feel- 
ing, if  we  sincerely  desire  it,  and  if  at  the  same 
time  we  are  making  efforts  to  save  men.  It  is 
said  of  a  certain  faithful  laborer,  (Harlan  Page), 
that  **  his  anxiety  for  individuals  was  frequently 
such  that  he  could  not  rest,  but  would  leave 
7 


146  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

his  business  to  seek  an  interview  with  them,  or 
address  them  by  letter,  or  pray  for  them.  At 
the  close  of  religious  meetings  his  mind  would 
often  become  intensely  fixed  upon  the  conver- 
sion of  some  impenitent  individual.  He  would 
address  him  with  great  solemnity,  urging  an 
immediate  compliance  with  the  terms  of  the 
gospel ;  and  as  his  friend  accompanied  him 
homewards,  such  was  sometimes  the  pressure 
upon  his  heart,  that  they  would  seek  a  retired 
spot,  and  there,  even  in  the  depths  of  winter, 
kneel  and  plead  with  God,  for  the  person's  sal- 
vation.'* Surely  this  feeling  of  concern  for 
others  was  God's  gift  to  him,  while  he  was  in 
the  way  of  duty. 

Frequently  seek  out  and  converse  with  those 
who  are  absolutely  uncared  for.  Go  even  to 
the  outcast.  "It  is  my  rule,"  said  a  good 
man,  "  to  go  not  only  to  those  who  need  me, 
but  to  those  who  need  me  most."  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  presume  that  those  belonging  to  the 
worst  layers  of  society,  are  necessarily  devoid 
of  all  thought  about  religion.  With  their  sense, 
of  misery  they  often  have  a  tormenting  con- 
sciousness of  guilt.     Most  truly  has  it  been  said 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  147 

that  these  abandoned  ones  are  often  lashed  and 
stung  by  remorse.  Go  sometimes  to  the  poor 
creatures,  viewed,  alas  !  by  most,  with  loathing, 
and  tell  them  that  it  is  a  faithful  saying,  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sin- 
ners. 

You  have  never  been  ignorant  of  the  truth 
that  it  is  faith  in  Jesus  which  is  the  condition 
of  salvation.  You  have  recently,  however, 
known,  as  a  matter  of  experience,  that  the  great 
thing  is  to  have  this  faith.  You  are  prepared, 
therefore,  to  show  the  convinced  sinner  what  he 
must  do  to  be  saved.  Tell  him  that  he  is  to  be- 
lieve on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Some  may  have 
told  him  that  submission  to  God  is  the  condi- 
tion. Others,  that  giving  his  heart  to  God  is 
the  condition.  These  acts  of  the  soul  are  in- 
deed duties,  and  they  are  holy  acts,  but  neither 
of  them  is  the  condition  of  salvation.  We  are 
taught  in  the  Bible  that  it  is  faith.  And  the 
faith  which  is  necessary  is  the  faith  which  has 
the  blessed  Saviour  for  its  object.  Tell  the  in- 
quirer to  trust  in  Jesus,  to  come  to  Him,  to  lay 
hold  upon  Him.  This  counsel  proceeds  on  the 
assumption  that  you  will  (if  you  are  really  ac- 


148  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

tive  in  this  work),  sometimes  be  called  to  help 
the  convinced  and  anxious  sinner  as  well  as 
warn  the  unawakened.  ''  Numerous  as  are  the 
ranks  of  the  unconverted,  they  will  most  surely 
and  rapidly  disappear  when  once  the  passion  for 
saving  souls  takes  possession  of  Christ's  Church 
on  earth  ;  when  in  the  warehouse  and  in  the 
shop,  in  the  factory  and  in  the  mill,  in  the  gran- 
ary and  in  the  field,  on  the  roadside  and  at  the 
fireside,  in  the  city  and  in  the  country,  on  the 
sea  and  on  the  shore,  men  and  women  are 
eagerly  watching  to  win  some  soul  to  Christ ; 
when  love  for  the  world  shall  burn  in  each 
heart,  prayer  for  the  world  ascend  from  each 
lip,  bounty  for  the  world  drop  from  each  hand, 
the  messenger  of  mercy  gush  from  every  tongue. 
Then,  O  tJieiiy  shall  linger  no  longer  the  salva- 
tion of  a  ruined  race." 

Thus  far  we  have  spoken  of  personal  efforts 
for  the  souls  of  individuals.  But  there  are 
powerful  agencies  employed  by  the  Church  to 
advance  the  Saviour's  kingdom,  as  : 

Those  societies  which  go  by  the  names  of 
the  Foreign,  and  Domestic  Missionary  Socie- 
ties. 


THE   SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  149 

The  Bible,  Tract,  and  Seamen's  Societies. 

Societies  to  aid  Freedmen,  Orphans,  the 
wretched  poor  in  cities,  etc.,  etc. 

The  convert  should  at  once  begin  to  be  identi- 
fied with  these  departments  of  Christian  activity. 
If  he  stands  aloof  from  them  at  the  commence- 
ment of  his  Christian  course,  the  probabiHty 
is  that  he  always  will.  There  is  scarcely  one 
who  cannot  do  something  in  connection  with 
some  of  these  agencies.  Let  the  convert  imme- 
diately begin  to  read  their  reports  and  periodi- 
cals, that  he  may  keep  himself  acquainted  with 
all  the  work  they  are  performing.  If  practica- 
ble let  him  offer  himself  to  work  for  some  of 
them.  '  *  The  Lord  prosper,"  says  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander,  *'  the  self-denying  company  of  tract 
distributors,  who  are  seen  penetrating  into  the 
darkest  recesses  of  vice  and  infamy,  bearing  in 
their  hands  precious  tracts,  and  whose  lips  are 
ever  ready  to  pour  forth,  from  a  benevolent  heart, 
words  of  exhortation,  admonition,  and  encourage- 
ment. Let  no  one  suppose  that  the  missionary 
and  the  Bible  supersede  the  necessity  of  tracts. 
These  contain  the  very  same  truths  which  are 
revealed  in  the  Bible,  and  it  matters  little  how 


ISO  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS, 

this  is  conveyed  to  the  mind  ;  if  attended  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  it  is  able  to  make  men  wise 
unto  salvation,  whether  heard  from  the  lips  of 
a  preacher,  or  read  in  an  evangelical  tract. 
Nor  ought  it  to  be  objected  that  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  tracts  and  religious  books  which  are 
circulated  are  never  read,  and  consequently 
produce  no  effect.  If  one  in  a  thousand  is  read 
with  profit,  there  is  a  rich  compensation  for  all 
the  expense  incurred." 

There  is  no  better  way  in  which  the  convert 
can  aid  these  agencies  than  by  pouring  out  the 
most  earnest  prayers  for  their  success  and  pros- 
perity. He  certainly  will  statedly  contribute 
of  his  means  to  support  them  in  their  work,  if 
he  has  the  least  spark  of  love  for  the  cause  of 
the  blessed  Jesus.  He  may  also  be  expected 
to  speak  on  their  behalf  whenever  opportunity 
offers,  and  to  try,  in  every  other  way  in  his 
power,  to  interest  others  in  them. 

One  of  the  means,  as  has  long  been  known, 
of  bringing  out  the  latent  talent  of  young  be- 
lievers is  the  Sunday-school.  It  is  the  method 
of  usefulness  which  first  presents  itself,  when 
converts  are  brought  into  the  Church  and  look 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  15 1 

around  for  a  way  to  do  good.  Young  church 
members  have  lately  praised  God  for  their  sal- 
vation. "  Who  ought  to  be  more  full  of  eager- 
ness to  work  in  His  cause,  and  what  work  can 
be  named  at  once  so  promising,  so  simple,  and 
so  accessible  ?  The  young  professor  who  be- 
gins early,  works  earnestly,  and  continues  long, 
actually  effects,  upon  the  successive  classes  that 
come  under  his  care,  changes  which  are  of  in- 
calculable benefit  to  the  land  and  the  Church. 
WJie7i  he  gathers  a  new  class  of  poor  children, 
aftd  keeps  them  together  for  years ,  and  labors 
for  their  souls,  he  does  more  to  hold  up  the 
hands  of  his  pastor  and  elders,  than  by  any  and 
all  other  means  which  can  easily  be  thought  of. 
And  what  a  propelling  force  does  the  company 
of  young  disciples  give  to  their  Church,  who, 
after  conference  and  prayer,  fix  upon  a  new 
locality,  and  there,  in  some  destitute  vicinage, 
institute  a  new  Sunday-school."  . 

The  fact  should  not  be  concealed  from  the 
convert  that,  in  whatever  way  a  Christian  serves 
Christ,  the  service  is  against  nature.  "  He 
greatly  errs  who  enters  the  Christian  course  as 
a  career    of   ease,  or  who   expects  a   bed   of 


152  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS. 

roses.  From  beginning  to  end  it  is  against 
the  stream.  It  is  against  the  world.  It  is 
against  the  devil.  It  is  against  ourselves.  In 
the  natural  world  mountains  are  not  ascended 
without  many  a  panting  effort,  and  many  a 
moment  of  weakness  ;  but  no  earthly  moun- 
tains are  so'  difficult  as  those  we  have  to  trav- 
erse in  our  spiritual  march.  The  Christian 
course  is  a  life  of  warfare,  and  of  labor  within 
and  without.  But,  if  the  whole  life  of  our 
adorable  Lord  was  one  bearing  of  the  cross, 
surely  we  ought  to  make  it  the  law  of  our  ex- 
istence here  to  bear  the  yoke  which  He  lays 
upon  us.  There  is  such  weakness  in  human 
nature,  that  even  our  most  delightful  duties 
become  a  burden,  except  so  far  as  we  receive 
continual  supphes  of  grace  to  quicken  and  re- 
fresh us."  Such  supplies  of  grace,  however, 
are  promised.  Moreover,  the  laborer  who  is 
never  weary  in  well  doing,  who  is  always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  is  assured 
by  God,  Himself,  that  he  cannot  labor  in  vain 
(i  Cor.  XV.  58).  The  desire  of  his  heart  to  be 
useful  to  precious  souls  and  to  the  Church  of 
God,  which  He  purchased  with  His  own  blood, 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  153 

shall  certainly  be  gratified.  In  addition  to  this, 
his  heart  is  cheered  by  the  certainty  that,  if  he 
continues  to  serve  the  Master  faithfully  unto 
death,  he  shall  be  greeted  with  the  ravishing 
welcome  :  **  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  ser- 
vant :  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 
7* 


CHAPTER  V. 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES  SPECIAL  ATTENTION  HAS 
BEEN  GIVEN  BY  THE  CHURCH  TO  CATECHIZING 
THE-  YOUNG. 

'THHERE  are  those  who  are  unable  to  remem- 
-^  ber  the  time  when  they  did  not  love  God, 
and  trust  in  Jesus  for  their  salvation.  Such,  in 
almost  all  cases,  had  faithful  parents — parents 
who,  recognizing  the  truth  that  the  offspring  of 
behevers  are  embraced  in  the  covenant,  with 
tender  solicitude,  and  many  believing  prayers, 
trained  them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord.  By  the  very  birth  of  this  class, 
the  Church  is  constantly  increasing  ;  and  our 
plan  of  treatment  permits  us  to  include  them, 
while  they  continue  to  be  of  tender  age,  among 
the  number  of  converts.  But,  there  are  still 
others,  not  strictly  converts — the  young  and 
ignorant  who  abound  wherever  the  Church  ex- 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  155 

ists,  and  upon  whom  she  has  some  hold — whom 
she  may  justly  hope  will  become  her  converts 
with  proper  treatment.  That  to  give  instruc- 
tion to  all  such,  as  well  as  to  her  baptized  mem- 
bers, is  the  Church's  duty  will  not  be  denied, 
nor  will  it  be  questioned  that  one  of  the  meth- 
ods of  teaching  them,  which  she  is  bound  to 
pursue,  is  that  of  implanting  in  their  minds  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  by  means  of  short  com- 
pends  and  systems. 

Sabbath-schools  need  not  stand  in  the  way 
of  this  method  of  instruction,  nor  need  this  doc- 
trinal instruction  interfere  with  the  work  of  Sab- 
bath-schools. The  young. and  ignorant  cannot 
be  indoctrinated  as  they  should  be,  either  by 
Sabbath-school  teaching,  or  by  means  of  elabo- 
rate and  continued  discourses  from  the  pulpit. 

Oral  instruction  in  a  familiar  way,  (the  pupils 
being  sometimes  required  to  recite  what  was 
said),  was  held  in  the  highest  estimation  in  the 
early  Church  not  only  as  the  means  of  instilling 
divine  truth  into  the  minds  of  converts,  but  for 
the  religious  teaching  of  those  who  were  with- 
out the  pale  of  the  Church. 

Whenever  the  early  Church  writers  allude  to 


1 56  THE  SA  VIO UR'S  CONVER TS. 

the  catechizing  which  prevailed  in  primitive 
times,  they  use  the  word  in  the  sense  of  initia- 
ting the  ignorant  in  Christian  rudiments,  wheth- 
er by  question  and  answer  or  otherwise.  For 
the  method  of  question  and  answer,  although 
closely  connected  with  catechizing,  and  of  great 
importance,  is  not  essential  to  it. 

Those  to  whose  presiding  care  the  flock  was 
committed,  felt  the  importance  of  systemati- 
cally instructing  by  catechizing  all  the  chil- 
dren of  Christians,  and  all  who  applied  for 
admission  into  the  Church  from  among  the 
heathen.  A  class  of  catechumens  was  at- 
tached to  every  church,  and  formed  a  kind 
of  school,  in  which  the  first  principles  of 
religion  were  inculcated,  and  certain  formulas 
of  Christian  doctrine  were  carefully  committed 
to  memory,  togetherwith  portions  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures.  Thus,  even  in  the  beginnings  of 
the  Church's  existence,  she  understood  her  vo- 
cation. She  felt  that  her  great  duty  was  to 
teach;  Accordingly  she  was,  as  she  ought  al- 
ways to  be,  like  a  great  school.  **  The^  KaT7]')(pv- 
fievo^  "  (s2iys  Dr.  J.  W.  Alexander,  "  Fam.  Let- 
ters," vol.  2,  p.  170)  **  was  under  schooling,  long 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  15/ 

watched,  slowly  indoctrinated."  And  he  adds, 
*'  The  Church,  as  a  school,  has  decHned  ; 
hence,  the  Sunday-school  has  been  built  up 
alongside." 

Those  who  gave  special  instruction  to  the 
catechumens  were  called  catechists.  The  cate- 
chumens embraced  people  of  all  ranks  and  of 
all  grades  of  culture,  so  that  it  was  often  ne- 
cessary that  the  teachers  should  be  men  thor- 
oughly instructed  and  disciplined.  At  the  head 
of  the  catechetical  school  of  Alexandria,  in 
Egypt,  were  men  of  the  highest  character  for 
learning  and  piety.  *'  It  had  at  first  but  a  sin.r- 
gle  teacher,  afterward,  two  or  more,  but  no 
fixed  salary  or  special  buildings.  The  teachers 
gave  their  instructions  in  their  dwellings.  The 
first  superintendent  of  this  school  known  to  us 
was  Pantaenus,  who  afterward  labored  as  a  mis- 
sionary in  India.  He  was  followed  by  Clement 
to  A.D.  202,  and  Clement  by  Origen  to  A.D. 
232,  who  raised  the  school  to  the  summit  of  its 
prosperity." 

Not  only  did  holy  men  of  God  devote  much 
of  their  time  to  the  instruction  of  the  rising 
generation,  and  of  converts  from  paganism,  but 


158  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

many  of  the  fathers  felt  so  deeply  interested  in 
their  instruction  that  they  composed  numerous 
treatises  to  be  used  explicitly  in  teaching  them. 
The  learned  Dr.  Coleman,  in  his  *^  Antiquities  of 
the  Christian  Church,"  gives  us  very  interesting 
information  in  regard  to  the  reasons  which  led 
to  the  institution  of  the  order  of  catechumens, 
the  age  at  which  they  were  admitted,  the  term 
ot  instruction,  the  different  classes  into  which 
they  were  divided,  the  mode  of  admission,  etc. 
At  first  the  purity  of  the  Church  was  guarded 
by  men  who  possessed  the  miraculous  gift  of 
discerning  spirits  ;  but,  after  this  gift  had  been 
withdrawn,  it  became  unsafe,  immediately  and 
as  soon  as  they  avowed  their  faith,  to  admit 
candidates  from  among  the  heathen  into  the 
fellowship  of  the  Church.  Multitudes  who  pro- 
fessed to  be  believers,  when  temptations  and 
persecutions  arose,  went  back  to  their  former 
mode  of  life.  In  order  to  diminish,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, to  prevent  such  apostacies,  the  Rulers  of 
the  Church  adopted  the  plan  of  deferring  the 
admission  of  converts  until  reasonable  evidence 
was  obtained  of  their  fitness  in  point  of  knowl- 
edge and  sincerity,  to  be  enrolled  in  the  ranks 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  159 

of  the  disciples.  They  not  only  continued  the 
applicants  for  Church  membership  in  a  state  of 
probation  for  a  limited  time,  but  they  instituted 
schools,  especially  for  their  instruction,  and  ap- 
pointed catechists  over  them.  In  process  of 
time  these  catechetical  schools  became  numer- 
ous, and  proved  of  great  service  to  the  Church, 
and  some  of  them  became  famous. 

There  was  no  specific  rule  respecting  the  age 
in  which  Jewish  and  heathen  converts  were  re- 
ceived as  catechumens.  History  informs  us 
that  the  greater  part  were  persons  of  adult  age. 
As  to  the  time  which  the  catechumens  should 
spend  in  that  relation  it  varied  according  to  the 
usages  of  the  Churches.  It  also  depended  upon 
the  proficiency  of  each,  individually.  There 
was  no  essential  rule  by  which  the  converts 
were  classified.  Some  writers  give  but  two 
classes,  others  three,  and  others  four.  "  The 
gradations  of  improvement  were  particularly 
observed.  The  age  and  sex  and  circumstances 
of  the  catechumens  were  also  duly  regarded, 
men  of  age  and  rank  not  being  classed  with 
children  of  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age." 
.    As  soon  as  one  expressed  his  desire  and  reso- 


l60  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

lution  to  embrace  the  religion  of  Jesus,  he  was 
trained,  by  a  regular  course  of  catechetical  in- 
struction in  private,  to  a  knowledge  of  the  lead- 
ing doctrines  and  duties  of  the  gospel ;  and, 
after  this  private  instruction,  "  he  was  subjected 
to  frequent  and  minute  examinations  in  public 
on  every  branch  of  his  religious  education.  If 
approved,  he  was  forthwith  instructed  in  some 
of  the  sublimer  points  of  Christianity  which  had 
hitherto  been  withheld  from  him — such  as  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  the  union  of  the  divine 
and  human  natures  in  Christ,  the  influences  of 
the  Spirit,  and  the  way  in  which  a  participation 
of  the  symbols  of  a  Saviour's  love  gives  spirit- 
ual nourishment  to  the  soul.  He  was  enjoined 
to  commit  to  memory  the  creed  as  a  formula, 
which  embodied,  in  a  small  compass,  all  the 
grand  articles  of  revealed  truth,  which  it  had  been 
the  object  of  his  protracted  discipline  to  teach 
him.  For  twenty  successive  days  he  continued 
a  course  of  partial  fasting,  during  which  he  had 
daily  interviews  with  his  minister,  who,  in  pri- 
vate, and  secluded  from  the  presence  of  every 
other  observer,  endeavored,  by  serious  discourse, 
to  impress  his  mind  with  a  sense  of  the  impor 


\ 
^ 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  l6l 

tant  step  he  was  about  to  take,  and  more  especi- 
ally prayed  with  him  that  he  might  be  delivered 
from  any  evil  spirit  that  had  possession  of  his 
heart,  and  be  enabled  to  consecrate  himself  a 
living  sacrifice  to  God  and  to  the  Saviour. 
Such  was  the  discipline  of  the  catechumens — 
a  discipline  to  which  all  ranks  and  descriptions 
of  men,  who  were  desirous  of  being  admitted 
into  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  were  in  primitive 
times  indiscriminately  subjected." 

Thus,  Christ's  ministers  and  people  in  the 
early  Church  fully  understood  and  practically 
recognized  the  fact  that  folded  sheep  needed  to 
be  watched  and  fed  ;  and  that,  in  order  to  be 
prevented  from  straying,  they  needed  to  be  im- 
bued with  sound  doctrine.  Classes  of  instruc- 
tion for  converts  and  others,  after  the  primitive 
model,  would  doubtless  be  found  exceedingly 
valuable  to  the  Church  in  our  own  times. 

During  the  centuries  in  which  darkness  over- 
spread the  earth,  and  people  were  deprived  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  whatever  books  of  in- 
struction were  prepared  for  the  ignorant,  with 
scarcely  an  exception  related  to  nothing  more 
important  than   legends,    rosaries,    feasts,  and 


1 62  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

relics.  The  Waldenses,  however,  had,  during 
that  period,  their  catechism,  embodying,  it  is 
needless  to  say,  nothing  so  trifling  and  worth- 
less, but  soHd  scriptural  instruction. 

If  the  leaders  and  teachers  in  the  primitive 
Church,  including  some  of  the  greatest  minds 
belonging  to  her,  held  the  business  of  catecheti- 
cal instruction  in  the  highest  estimation,  it  was 
also  relied  upon  by  the  Reformers  of  the  six- 
teenth century  as  the  great  means  of  guarding 
and  extending  the  truth,  and  of  establishing  the 
true  religion  in  the  world.  They  regarded  the 
very  existence  of  Protestantism  as  depending 
on  it.  They  could  not  find  words  to  express 
how  their  spirits  were  stirred  within  them  by 
the  prevalent  ignorance,  and  they  clearly  per- 
ceived the  necessity  of  immediately  beginning 
the  work  of  religiously  training  the  young,  and 
that,  after  a  regular  form.  Nor  did  they  soon 
desist  from  their  labors.  The  preparation  of 
catechisms  com.manded  a  large  part  of  their 
time.  The  example  of  the  first  and  principal 
reformers,  Luther  and  Calvin,  led  to  the  com- 
position of  a  multitude  of  catechisms  by  their 
followers.     So  successful  were  the  servants  of 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  1 63 

God  of  the  Reformation  era,  in  spreading,  in 
this  form,  the  new  doctrine,  that  the  Romanists 
were  alarmed,  and  were  compelled,  in  self-de- 
fence, to  resort  to  the  same  method.  Were 
catechetical  history  the  theme  of  this  chapter, 
it  would  here  be  in  place  to  speak  of  the  origin 
of  the  excellent  Heidelberg  Catechism,  which 
has  been  more  extensively  used  than  any  one 
composed  by  the  Reformers. 

The  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines,  are  also  rec- 
ognized by  a  large  body  of  Christians  as  con- 
taining the  exact  doctrines  of  the  Reformation, 
as  these  are  deduced  from  the  Bible.  "  Never," 
says  a  writer,  speaking  of  the  labors  of  the  men 
composing  the  Westminster  Assembly,  "  were 
so  much  time  and  toil  and  learning  bestowed 
on  documents  of  the  same  compass.  The 
Shorter  Catechism,  in  particular,  maybe  consid- 
ered as  one  of  the  most  complete  and  accurate 
summaries  of  divine  truth  ever  couched  in  un- 
inspired language.  It  consists  not  of  argu- 
ments, but  of  lucid  statements,  and  comprehen- 
sive definitions  of  truth,  and  no  one  who  has 
not  minutely  analyzed  and   expounded   them, 


l64  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS, 

can  be  at  all  aware  of  the  logical  precision,  and 
the  symmetry,  and  withal  the  seriousness  and 
unction  of  these  statements.  The  principles  of 
moral  and  religious  truth  contained  in  that  sub- 
lime symbol,  when  once  embedded  in  the  mind, 
enlarge,  sustain,  and  illuminate  it  for  all  time." 
The  Church's  best  and  wisest  teachers,  both  of 
former  times  and  in  our  own  day,  have  ever 
dwelt  upon  the  importance  of  requiring  those 
under  a  course  of  religious  instruction  to  com- 
mit to  memory  a  set  form.  "  The  popular  and 
slovenly  method  is,  to  ask  a  multitude  of  ques- 
tions to  be  answered  in  the  pupil's  own  words. 
The  basis  of  every  science,  however,  as  a  sub- 
ject of  teaching,  is  laid  in  concise  and  exact 
definitions,  and,  as  the  language  of  these  defi- 
nitions cannot  be  altered  without  some  loss,  so 
the  only  safe  method  of  beginning,  is  to  charge 
the  memory  of  the  learner  with  the  very  words 
of  such  definitions.  This  is  equally  true  of  syn- 
tax, geometry,  physics,  metaphysics,  and  theo- 
logy. The  way  of  discovering  truth  is  not  al- 
ways the  way  of  inculcating  it.  All  first  lines 
of  instruction  must  proceed  upon  authority ; 
the  truth  must  be  given  as  dogma.     In  a  word, 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  1 65 

though  we  arrive  at  principles  analytically,  we 
teach  them  synthetically.  Hence,  it  is  not  a 
traditionary  but  a  most  philosophic  method  to 
demand  the  accurate  learning  by  rote  of  cate- 
chetical forms." 

At  the  regular  monthly  meeting  of  the  New 
England  Historic-Genealogical  Society,  held 
Dec.  4,  1878,  a  paper  was  read  by  Dr.  Dorus 
Clarke,  entitled  '*  Saying  the  Catechism  Sev- 
enty-five Years  ago,  and  the  Historical  Results." 
From  this  paper  we  make  the  following  quota- 
tion : 

"  I  desire,  in  this  presence,  to  acknowledge 
my  deep  obligations  to  my  parents,  who,  long 
since,  as  I  trust,  *  passed  into  the  skies,'  for 
their  fidelity  in  requiring  me,  much  against  my 
will,  to  commit  to  memory  the  Assembly's 
Catechism,  and  to  say  it  six  or  seven  years  in 
succession  in  the  old  meeting-house  in  West- 
hampton,  amid  tremblings  and  agitations  I  can 
never  cease  to  remember.  The  Catechism 
formed  a  part  of  the  curriculum  of  all  the  com- 
mon schools  in  that  town  for  half  a  century,  and 
was  as  thoroughly  taught,  and  as  regularly  re- 
cited   there,    as  Webster's    Spelling-Book,    or 


1 66  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS, 

Murray's  English  Grammar.  It  was  as  truly  a 
classic  as  any  other  book.  It  was  taught  every- 
where— in  the  family,  in  the  school,  and  in  the 
Church — Indeed,  it  was  the  principal  intellect- 
ual and  religious  pabulum  of  the  people.  We 
had  it  for  breakfast,  and  we  had  it  for  dinner, 
and  we  had  it  for  supper.  The  entire  town  was 
saturated  with  its  doctrines,  and  it  is  almost  as 
much  so  at  the  present  day.  The  people  could 
not,  of  course,  descend  into  the  profound 
depths  of  the  metaphysics  of  theology,  but 
they  thoroughly  understood  the  system  which 
was  held  by  the  fathers  of  New  England.  The 
practice  of  instructing  the  children  thoroughly 
in  the  Catechism  was  very  general  throughout 
New  England  for  a  century  and  a  half  after  the 
arrival  of  *'The  Mayflower."  Judge  Sewall,  in 
the  first  volume  of  his  "  Diary,"  just  published 
by  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  speaks 
of  a  certain  Sabbath,  which,  in  the  Old  South 
Church  in  this  city,  was  called  "  The  Catechis- 
ing Dayy"  and  of  his  wearing  a  new  article  of 
clothing  in  honor  of  that  specially  important 
custom.  But  I  believe  that  that  excellent  prac- 
tice was  nowhere  so  thoroughly  carried  out  as 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  1 6/ 

it  was  in  Western  Massachusetts.  That  was 
largely  owing  to  the  transcendent  influence  of 
Jonathan  Edwards — clariim  et  venerabile  no- 
men — who  was  looked  up  to  by  the  ministers 
in  Boston  and  Scotland  as  the  oracle  in  all 
metaphysical  and  theological  matters.  His  in- 
fluence in  Northampton  and  Stockbridge,  and 
in  the  regions  round  about,  is  visible  to-day  in 
the  peculiar  moral  and  religious  gram  of  the 

people The   Catechism  was   required, 

by  the  public  sentiment  of  the  town,  to  be  per- 
fectly committed  to  memory,  and  recited  in  the 
meeting-house  by  all  the  children  and  youth 
between  the  ages  of  eight  and  fifteen.  These 
public  recitations  were  held  on  three  different 
Sabbaths  in  the  summer  of  every  year,  with, 
perhaps,  a  fortnight  intervening  between  each 
of  them,  to  allow  sufficient  time  for  the  children 
to  commit  to  memory  the  division  assigned. 
All  the  children  in  the  town,  dressed  in  their 
Sabbath-day  clothes,  were  arranged  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  the  boys  on  the  one  side,  and 
the  girls  on  the  other  of  the  broad  aisle — begin- 
ning at  the  deacon's  seat  beneath  the  pulpit, 
and   extending   down    that    aisle,    and    round 


1 68  THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS. 

through  the  side  aisles  as  far  as  was  necessary. 
The  parents  crowded  the  pews  and  galleries, 
tremblingly  anxious  that  their  Httle  ones  might 
acquit  themselves  well.  Father  Hale,  standing 
in  the  pulpit,  put  out  the  questions  to  the  chil- 
dren in  order ;  and  each  one,  when  the  ques- 
tion came  to  him,  was  expected  to  wheel  out 
of  the  line,  a  la  militaire,  into  the  broad  aisle, 
and  face  the  minister,  and  make  his  very  best 
obeisance,  and  answer  the  question  put  to  him 
without  the  slightest  mistake.  To  be  told^  that 
is,  to  be  prompted  or  corrected  by  the  minis- 
ter, was  not  a  thing  to  be  permitted  by  any 
child  who  expected  thereafter  to  have  any 
reputation  in  that  town  for  good  scholarship. 
In  this  manner  the  three  divisions  of  the  Cate- 
chism were  successively   recited This 

system  of  thorough,  religious  training  continued 
through  the  lifetime  of  nearly  two  generations, 
and,  therefore,  long  enough  fairly  to  test  its 
real  influence  upon  human  character  and  life — 
long  enough  to  determine,  historically,  what 
were  its  legitimate  effects  upon  individuals  and 
upon  society.  I  know  it  is  difficult  to  ascer- 
tain precisely  all   the  influences,  open  and  se- 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  1 69 

cret,  remote  and  proximate,  which  form  the 
web  and  the  woof  of  individual  and  municipal 
character  ;  but  in  this  case  those  formative  fac- 
tors were  so  immediate  and  so  obvious,  that 
there  is  little  room  to  doubt  what  they  were. 
Indeed,  there  is  no  more  reason  to  doubt  what 
they  were,  than  there  is  to  question  the  veracity 
of  the  multiplication  table,  or  the  excellence  of 
the  Ten  Commandments.  The  general  result 
was,  and  still  is,  that  sobriety,  large  intelli- 
gence, sound  morality,  and  unfeigned  piety, 
exist  there  to  a  wider  extent  than  in  any  other 
community  of  equal  size  within  the  limits  of 
my  acquaintance.  Revivals  of  religion  have 
been  of  great  frequency,  purity,  and  power ; 
and  to-day  more  than  one-third  of  the  popula- 
tion, all  told,  are  members  of  that  Congrega- 
tional Church.  Nine-tenths  of  the  inhabitants 
are  regular  attendants  on  public  worship.  .  .  . 
I  have  resided  in  that  town  sixteen  years,  in 
Williamstown  four  years,  in  Andover  three 
years,  in  Blandford  twelve  years,  in  Springfield 
six  years,  and  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity  thirty- 
seven  years,  and  have  therefore  had  some  op- 
portunities to  form  an  intelligent  judgment  of 


I/O  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

the  relative  condition,  moral  and  religious,  of 
different  parts  of  this  Commonwealth ;  and  I 
say  it  '  without  fear  or  favor,  or  hope  of  re- 
ward ;  '  I  say  it  with  no  invidious  spirit  what- 
ever ;  I  say  it  simply  because  historic  verity 
peremptorily  requires  that  it  should  h^  said — 
that  I  have  nowhere  found,  in  these  communi- 
ties generally,  such  profound  reverence  for  the 
name  of  JEHOVAH,  the  Infinite  and  Personal 
God  ;  such  unquestioning  faith  in  the  divine 
authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  such  devout 
and  conscientious  observance  of  the  Sabbath  ; 
such  habitual  practice  of  family  prayer ;  such 
respect  for  an  oath  in  a  court  of  justice  ;  such 
anxiety  for  revivals  of  religion  ;  such  serious 
determination  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  and  such  deep  conviction  that  it  never 
can  be  reached,  except  by  repentance  for  sin, 
and  faith  in  a  crucified  Redeemer,  as  I  have 
seen  in  that  town.  That  the  moral  and  relig- 
ious condition  of  things  there  is  not  what  it 
should  be,  is  unquestionably  true  ;  but  that  it 
is,  on  the  whole,  better,  yes,  much  better,  than 
that  in  any  other  municipality  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  which  has  not  been  similarly  educated,  is 


THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS.  I/I 

my  honest  belief.  And,  if  this  be  true,  this 
superior  Christian  tone  of  society  must  have 
had  an  adequate  cause  ;  and  it  is  our  duty,  as 
members  of  this  Historical  Society,  to  ascertain 
that  cause,  and  let  it  be  known  for  the  informa- 
tion and  imitation  of  the  world.  That  cause — 
so  far  as  I  am  able  to  trace  effects  back  to  their 
causes — can  be  found,  not  in  the  local  position 
of  that  town,  not  in  its  scenery,  not  in  its  pe- 
culiarly favorable  situation  for  the  prosecution 
of  any  of  the  arts  of  life,  not  in  the  wealth  cre- 
ated by  great  manufacturing  industries,  but  in 
its  more  thorough  indoctrination,  from  its  set- 
tlement down  to  the  present  day,  in  the  great 
truths  of  the  Bible,  creating  public  sentiment, 
permeating  domestic  life,  giving  vigor  to  con- 
science, converting  men  to  Christ,  and  impreg- 
nating society,  through  all  its  ramifications, 
with  a  profounder  sense  of  moral  obligation." 

The  Catechism  is  now  made  in  our  Church 
a  part  of  the  curriculum  of  Sabbath-school  in- 
struction, and  this  is  well,  provided  it  is  also  re- 
cited at  other  times  than  in  the  Sabbath-school, 
To  commit  it  to  memory  without  incessantly  re- 
viewing it,  is  not  to  become  sufficiently  familiar 


172  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

with  it.  In  order  that  its  definitions  may  make 
the  deepest  impression  on  the  mind,  they  must 
be  repeated  again  and  again,  and  that  with 
punctiHous  accuracy  through  a  long  series  of 
years.  It  is  only  thus  that  the  great  truths  of 
the  Catechism  can  be  deeply  *' imbedded  "  in 
our  children's  minds,  or  wrought,  as  it  were, 
into  their  very  texture.  It  is  absurd  to  object 
to  the  accurate  learning  of  catechetical  forms 
,by  rote.  Who  will  pretend  to  deny  the  truth 
of  the  statement  of  the  writer  just  now  quoted, 
that  All  first  lines  of  mstruction  must  proceed 
upon  authority  ?  But  we  shall  not  pursue  the 
subject  further,  as  to  give  the  history  of  cate- 
chizing is  no  part  of  the  purpose  of  this  little 
book. 

The  ignorant  and  uncared  for,  abound  wher- 
ever the  Church  is  planted,  and  there  is  a  sense 
in  which  they  all  belong  to  her.*     They  belong 

*  It  is  very  much  owing  to  the  unfaithfulness  of  God's  peo- 
ple that  the  number  of  persons  ignorant  of  the  teachings  of  the 
Bible,  though  living  in  Christian  commvmities,  is  so  great. 
Those  who  have  read  the  account  given  by  Dr.  Spencer,  in  his 
"  Pastor's  Sketches,"  of  the  conversion,  on  her  death-bed,  of  the 
Welsh  woman's  young  tenant,  may  remember  how  feelingly  he 


THE  SAVIOUR'S  CONVERTS.  1/3 

to  her  to  instruct  and  train  for  heaven.  This 
has  been  assumed  in  what  has  been  said  in  this 
concluding  chapter.  But  it  is  chiefly  for  the 
purpose  of  enlisting  sympathy  and  aid  in  behalf 
of  converts,  that  these  pages  have  been  written. 
We  have  seen  that  there  are  many  encourage- 
ments to  engage  in  the  work  of  aiding  them. 
The  number  of  new  disciples  in  the  world  is  at 
all  times  very  great.  Perhaps  an  hour  does  not 
pass  in  which  souls  somewhere  are  not  regener- 
ated by  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  astonishing  that 
these  are  not  more  cared  for  by  God's  people. 
To  guard,  cherish,  and  feed  them  is  one  of  the 
ends  for  which  the  Church  has  been  organized. 

deplores  the  shocking  unfaithfulness  to  this  young  woman's  soul, 
of  those  who  had  been  long  her  intimate  associates.  **  What  a 
lesson  of  reproof  to  Christians,"  he  says,  "that  this  woman, 
living  for  twenty  years  among  them,  and  in  the  sight  of  five  or 
six  Christian  churches,  should  never  have  been  inside  of  a 
church  in  her  life,  and  that  nobody  asked  her  to  go.  Year  after 
year  she  was  in  habits  of  intimacy  with  those  who  belonged  in 
Christian  families;  she  associated  with  children  of  Christian 
parents  and  yet  she  had  never  read  the  Bible — she  never  was  ex- 
horted to  seek  the  Lord  !  And  probably  she  would  have  died 
as  she  had  lived  had  not  divine  Providence  sent  her  to  be  the 
tenant  of  the  '  old  lady  '  who  loved  her  so  well." 


174  THE  SAVIOUR'S   CONVERTS. 

Christ  has  not  only  enjoined  it  upon  His  Church 
to  disciple  all  nations,  but  to  make  His  converts, 
whom  He  so  much  loves,  worthy,  and  strong, 
and  useful  disciples.  No  plan  employed  by  the 
Church  to  make  them  such,  however  wisely  de- 
vised, can  be  of  the  least  avail,  unless  believers, 
as  individuals,  feel  a  deeper  interest  in  them  and 
exert  themselves  more  for  their  good.  What 
can  be  of  greater  importance  to  converts  than 
that  they  should  start  aright.  May  it  not  be 
truthfully  said  of  most  of  them  that  they  will  be 
through  life,  what  they  are  during  their  first 
months  of  profession.  ''The  conversion  of  a 
man  is  only  the  first  step  in  a  heavenly  course — 
is  only  the  entrance  at  the  wicket  gate,  as  Bun- 
yan  puts  it,  with  all  the  difficulties,  perils,  and 
conflicts  of  the  pilgrimage  itself  yet  before  him. " 
Remember  that  a  powerful  means  of  benefiting 
converts  is  to  pray  for  them.  Intercede  for 
them,  therefore,  daily  during  the  remainder  of 
your  life. 


Old  Faiths  in  New  Light 

BY 

NEWMAN    SMYTH, 

Author    of   "  The   Religious    Feeling.'^'' 


One  Volume^  12mo,  cloth,        -        -        -        $1.50. 


This  work  aims  to  meet  a  growing  need  by  gathering  materials  of 
faith  which  have  been  quarried  by  many  specialists  in  their  own  depart- 
ments of  Biblical  study  and  scientific  research,  and  by  endeavoring  to 
put  these  results  of  recent  scholarship  together  according  to  one  leading 
idea  in  a  modern  construction  of  old  faith.  Mr.  Smyth's  book  is  remark- 
able no  less  for  its  learning  and  wide  acquaintance  with  prevailing  modes 
of  thought,  than  for  its  fairness  and  judicial  spirit. 


CRITICAL.  NOTICES. 


"  The  author  is  logical  and  therefore  clear.  He  also  is  master  of  a  singularly 
attractive  literary  style.  Fevy  writers,  whose  books  come  under  our  eye,  succeed  in 
treatina:  metaphysical  and  philosophical  themes  in  a  manner  at  once  so  forcible  and  so 
interesting.  We  speak  strongly  about  this  book,  because  we  think  it  exceptionally 
valuable.  It  is  just  such  a  book  as  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  all  intelligent  men  and 
women  who  have  received  an  education  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  read  intelligently 
about  such  subjects  as  are  discussed  herein,  and  the  number  of  such  persons  is  very 
much  larger  than  some  people  think." — Congregationalist. 

"We  have  before  had  occasion  to  notice  the  force  and  elegance  of  this  writer,  and 
his  new  book  shows  scholarship  even  more  advanced.  *  *  *  When  we  say,  with 
some  knowledge  of  how  much  is  undertaken  by  the  saying,  that  there  is  probably  no  book 
of  moderate  compass  which  combines  in  greater  degree  clearness  of  style  with  profundity 
of  subject  and  of  reasoning,  we  fulfil  simple  duty  to  an  author  whose  success  is  all  the 
more  marked  and  gratifying  from  the  multitude  of  kindred  attempts  with  which  we  have 
been  flooded  from  all  sorts  of  pens." — Presbyterian. 

"The  book  impresses  us  as  clear,  cogent  and  helpful,  as  vigorous  in  style  as  it  is 
honest  in  purpose,  and  calculated  to  render  valuable  service  in  showing  that  religion  and 
science  are  not  antagonists  but  allies,  and  that  both  lead  up  toward  the  one  God.  We 
fancy  that  a  good  many  readers  of  this  volume  will  entertain  toward  the  author  a  feeling 
of  sincere  personal  gratitude." — Boston  Journal. 

"On  the  whole,  we  do  not  know  of  a  book  which  may  better  be  commended  to 
thoughtful  persons  whose  minds  have  been  unsettled  by  objections  of  modern  thought. 
It  will  be  found  a  wholesome  work  for  every  minister  in  the  land  to  read." 

— Exavtifier  and  Chronicle, 

"It  is  a  longtime  since  we  have  met  with  an  abler  or  fresher  theological  treatise 
than  Old  Faiths  in  Ne7v  Light,  by  Newman  Smyth,  an  author  who  in  his  work  on 
"The  Religious  Feeling"  has  already  shown  ability  as  an  expounder  of  Christian 
doctrine. "  — Independetit. 


*^  For   sale    by    all   booksellers,   or    sent  postpaid.,    upon    receipt    of  price, 

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Gates  Into  ^Psalm-Country 


BY 


Rev.  MARVIN  R.  VINCENT,  D.D. 


One  Volume,  12 mo,    -       -       -       -       -       -       $1.50, 

CRITICAL    NOTICES. 

"  The  book  may  be  cordially  recommended  to  the  perusal  of  young 
men  especially,  who  will  find  in  it  the  soundest  views  of  life  and  the  most 
elevated  religious  conceptions,  enforced  with  equal  kindness,  eloquence, 
and  power. ^' — N'ew  York  Tribune. 

"As  meditations  upon  that  portion  of  Scripture  designed  for  popular 
rather  than  critical  reading,  they  are  delightful.  The  thought  is  warm  and 
earnest,  and,  like  the  Psalms  themselves,  these  studies  suggested  by  then* 
deal  with  the  common  e.xperiences  of  life." — The  Churchman. 

"  In  the  execution  of  his  design,  Dr.  Vincent  has  shown  rare  skill  and 
ability.  The  work  seems  to  us  to  be  a  model  of  its  kind— scholarly,  thought- 
ful, enriched  but  not  encumbered  by  the  results  of  the  best  learning,  devout 
and  cheerful  in  spirit,  practical,  sensible,  and  like  the  Psalms  themselves, 
full  of  Christ  and  the  Gospel.  The  style  is  singularly  clear,  racy,  and 
incisive." — Neio  York  Evangelist. 

"  They  are  rich  in  spiritual  counsel,  graceful  in  style,  happy  in  thought 
and  illustration.  The  book  is  meant  for  the  average  Bible-reader,  rather 
than  for  the  scholar,  and  any  devout  Christian  loving  the  Bible,  will  find  in 
it  an  abundance  of  interesting  and  suggestive  thought." — Boston  Watchman. 

"The  treatment  is  deeply  spiritual,  the  tone  affectionate  and  earnest, 
and  the  style  clear,  direct,  and  often  picturesque ;  and  we  are  sure  that 
many  a  Christian  will  find  in  the  volume  both  instruction  and  solace,  and 
varying  helps  for  varying  times  of  need." — Boston  Congregationalist. 

"  They  who  thoughtfully  read  these  pages  find  themselves  not  only 
illumined  and  refreshed  by  the  immediate  subject,  but  stimulated  to  make 
the  Psalter  fruitful  under  their  own  meditative  study." 

— iVew  York  Christian  Intelligencer. 

"  Like  the  different  parts  of  a  beautiful  garden,  or  the  successive 
strains  of  sweet  music,  these  discourses  charm  the  soul  and  fill  it  with 
rupturous  emotions.  They  are  at  the  same  time  most  helpful  in  the  way 
of  right  living."— Lutheran  Quarterly. 

"Christians  of  every  name  will  find  strength  and  comfort  in  these 
essays,  which  are  as  sweet  as  they  are  simple,  and  as  solid  as  they  are 
unpretentious."— r/Zi?  Living  Church. 


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CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS, 

Nos.  743  AND  745  Broadway,  New  York. 


The 


Conflict  of  Christianity 

WITH    HEATHENISIVI. 

By  DR.    GERHARD     UHLHORN. 

TRANSLATED     BY 

PROF.  EGBERT    C.  SMYTH    and    REV.  C.  J.  H.  ROPES. 


One   Volume,    Crown    8vo,   $2.50. 


This  volume  describes  with  extraordinary  vividness  and  spirit  the 
religious  and  moral  condition  of  the  Pagan  world,  the  rise  and  spread 
of  Christianity,  its  conflict  with  heathenism,  and  its  final  victory.  There 
is  no  work  that  portrays  the  heroic  age  of  the  ancient  church  with  equal 
spirit,  elegance,  and  incisive  power.  The  author  has  made  thorough  and 
independent  study  both  of  the  early  Christian  literature  and  also  of  the 
contemporary  records  of  classic  heathenism. 


CRITICAL     NOTICES. 

"  It  is  easy  to  see  why  this  volume  is  so  highly  esteemed.  It  is 
systematic,  thorough,  and  concise.  But  its  power  is  in  the  wide  mental 
vision  and  weli-balanced  imagination  of  the  author,  which  enable  him  to 
reconstruct  the  scenes  of  ancient  history.  An  exceptional  clearness  and 
force  mark  his  style." — Boston  Advertiser. 

"  One  might  read  many  books  without  obtaining  more  than  a  fraction 
of  the  profitable  information  here  conveyed  ;  and  he  might  search  a  long 
time  before  finding  one  which  would  so  thoroughly  fix  his  attention  and 
command  his  interest." — Phil.  S.  S.    Times. 

"Dr.  Uhlhorn  has  described  the  great  conflict  with  the  power  of  a 
master.  His  style  is  strong  and  attractive,  his  descriptions  vivid  and 
graphic,  his  illustrations  highly  colored,  and  his  presentation  of  the  subject 
earnest  and  effective." — Providence  Journal. 

"  The  work  is  marked  for  its  broad  humanitarian  views,  its  learning, 
and  the  wide  discretion  in  selecting  from  the  great  field  the  points  of 
deepest  interest." — Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

"This  is  one  of  those  clear,  strong,  thorough-going  books  which  ara 
a  scholar's  A&Xx^i." ^Hartford  Religious  Herald. 


***  For  sale  by  all  booksellers,   or  sent  post-paid   upon    receipt   of 
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]E^ail|  ani  llflHonalism. 

By  Prof.  GEORGE  P.  FISHER,  D.D.. 
Author   of  <'The    Beginnings   of   Christianitf,"    The    Reformation,"    Eta 


One  Volume,  12nio,  Cloth,  $1.25. 


"This  valuable  and  timely  volume  discusses  ably,  trenchantly  and 
decisively  the  subjects  of  which  it  treats.  It  contains  -within  small  limits 
a  large  amount  of  information  and  unanswerable  reasoning." — Presbyterian 
Banner. 

**The  book  is  valuable  as  a  discussion  of  the  mysteries  of  faith  and 
the  characteristics  of  rationalism  by  one  of  the  clearest  writers  and 
thinkers. ' ' —  Washington  Post. 

'*  The  author  deals  with  many  of  the  questions  of  the  day,  and  does 
so  with  a  freshness  and  completeness  quite  admirable  and  attractive.'* 
—-Presbyterian. 

**  This  singularly  clear  and  catholic- spirited  essay  will  command  the 
attention  of  the  theological  world,  for  it  is  a  searching  inquiry  into  the 
very  substance  of  Christian  belief." — Hartford  Courant. 

*'  This  little  volume  may  be  regarded  as  virtually  a  primer  of  modern 
religious  thought,  which  contains  within  its  condensed  pages  rich  materials 
that  are  not  easily  gathered  from  the  great  volumes  of  our  theological 
authors.  Alike  in  learning,  style  and  power  of  descrimination,  it  is  honor- 
able to  the  author  and  to  his  university,  which  does  not  urge  the  claims 
of  science  by  slighting  the  worth  of  faith  or  philosophy." — N.  V.  Times, 

*'  Topics  of  profound  interest  to  the  studious  inquirer  after  truth  are 
discussed  by  the  author  with  his  characteristic  breadth  of  view,  catholicity 
of  judgment,  affluence  of  learning,  felicity  of  illustration,  and  force  of 
reasoning.  .  .  .  His  singular  candor  disarms  the  prepossessions  of  his 
opponents.  ...  In  these  days  of  pretentious,  shallow  and  garrulous 
scholarship,  his  learning  is  as  noticeable  for  its  solidity  as  for  its  compass." 
— N,  Y.  Tribune, 


*if*  The   abtrve   book  for  tale  by  all  booksellers,  or  will  be  sent,  j>repaid,  vfon 
receipt  of  j^rice,  by 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S   SONS,  Publishers, 

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[Complete    in    T'^enty-four    Volumes    8vo. 


EangF^s  QoraraFntarg, 

CRITICAL,   DOCTRINAL,  AND    HOMILETICAL. 
TTtA.lsrSJL.AJrEJD,     ElSTL^R&Er),   J^NTD     EDITED 

BY 

PHILIP    SCHAFF,    D.D., 

PROFESSOR      IN     THE     UNION     THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY. 


This  is  the  most  comprehensive  and  exhaustive  Commentary  on  the  whole 
Bible  ever  published  in  this  or  any  other  country. 

The  German  work,  on  which  the  English  edition  is  based,  is  the  product 
of  about  twenty  distinguished  Biblical  scholars,  of  Germany,  Holland,  and 
Switzerland,  and  enjoys  a  high  reputation  and  popularity  wherever  German 
theology  is  studied. 

The  American  edition  is  not  a  mere  translation  (although  embracing  the 
whole  of  the  German),  but,  to  a  large  extent,  an  or  initial  work  ;  about  one- 
third  of  the  matter  being  added,  and  the  whole  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the 
English  and  American  student  Its  popularity  and  sale  has  been  lately 
increasing  in  Great  Britain. 

The  press  has  been  almost  unanimous  in  its  commendation  of  Lange's 
Commentary.  It  is  generally  regarded  as  being,  on  the  whole,  the  most 
useful  Commentary,  especially  for  ministers  and  theological  students — in 
which  they  are  more  likely  to  find  what  they  desire  than  in  any  other.  It  is 
a  complete  treasury  of  Biblical  knowledge,  brought  down  to  the  latest  date. 
It  gives  the  results  of  careful,  scholarly  research  ;  yet  in  a  form  sufficiently 
popular  for  the  use  of  intelligent  laymen.  The  Homiletical  department 
contains  the  best  thoughts  of  the  great  divines  and  pulpit  orators  of  all  ages, 
on  the  texts  explained,  and  supplies  rich  suggestions  for  sermons  and  Bible 
lectures. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  chief  merits  of  this  Commentary  : 

1.  It  is  orthodox  a?id  sound,  without  being  sectarian  or  dencminationaL 
It  fairly  represents  the  exegetical  and  doctrinal  consc?isus  of  evangelical 
divines  of  the  present  age,  and  yet  ignores  none  of  the  just  claims  of  liberal 
scientific  criticism. 

2.  //  is  comprehensive  and  complete — giving  in  beautiful  order  the 
authorized  English  version  with  emendations,  a  digest  of  the  Critical  Appa- 
ratus, Exegetical  Explanations,  Doctrinal  and  Ethical  Inferences  and 
Reflections,  and  Homiletical  and  Practical  Hints  and  Applications. 

3.  //  is  the  product  of  fifty  American  {besides  twenty  European)  Scholars, 
from  the  leading  denominations  and  Theological  institutions  of  the  country. 
Professors  in  the  Theological  Seminaries  of  New  York,  Princeton,  Andover, 
New  Plaven,  Hartford,  Cambridge,  Rochester,  Philadelphia,  Cincinnati, 
Alleghany,  Chicago,  Madison,  and  other  places,  representing  the  Presbyte- 
rian,Episcopal,  Congregational,  Baptist,  Methodist,  Lutheran,  and  Reformed 
Churches,  have  contributed  to  this  Commentary,  and  enriched  it  with  the 
results  of  their  special  studies.  It  may,  therefore,  claim  a  national  character 
more  than  any  other  work  of  the  kind  ever  published  in  this  country. 

8vo,  per  vol.,  in  sheep,  $6.50;  in  half  calf,  $7.30;  cloth,  $5.00, 

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CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS, 

743  AND  745  Broadway,  New  York 


THE    BIBLE    COMMENTARY 


ACCORDING  TO  THE  AUTHORIZED  VERSION,  A.D.1611. 
With  an  Explanatory  and  Critical  Commentary,  and  a  Revisioo 


of  the  Translation. 


Now  Beady.    Complete  in  6  vols.   Boyal  8vo.   Cloth,  $5. 

THE    OLD    TESTAMENT. 

Edited  by  F.  C.  COOK,  M.A.,  Canon  of  Exeter,  Preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn, 
and  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the  Queen. 

Vol      I. — Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  Deuteronomy, 

Vol.    II.— Joshua,  Judges,   Ruth,  Samuel,   ist  Kings. 

Vol.  Ill— 2d  Kings,  Chronicles,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Esther. 

Vol.  IV.— Job,  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Ecclesiastes,  Song  of  Solomon. 

Vol.    V. — Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Lamentations. 

Vol.  VI. — Ezekiel,  Daniel,  The  Minor  Prophets. 

The  want  of  a  plain,  Explanatory  COMMENTARY  ON  THE  BIBLE  more  com- 
plete and  accurate  than  any  accessible  to  Enajlish  readers  having  been  long  felt  l:)^  men  of 
education,  in  iSotj  the  SPEAKER  OF  THE^HOUSE  OF  COMMONS  consultcrl  some 
of  the  the  Bishops  as  to  the  best  way  of  supplying  the  deficiency  ;  and  the  ARCH- 
BISHOP OF  YORK  undertook  to  organize  a  plan  for  producing  such  a  work,  by  the 
co-operation  of  scho'ars  selected  for  their  biblical  learning. 

The  great  object  of  this  Commentary,  of  which  the  Old  Testament  is  now  completed, 
is  to  put  the  general  reader  in  full  possession  of  whatever  information  may  be  requisite  to 
enable  him  to  understand  the  Holy  Scriptures,  to  give  him,  as  far  as  possible,  the  same 
advantages  as  the  scholar,  and  to  supply  him  with  satisfactory  answers  to  objections 
resting  upon  misrepresentations  of  the  text. 

It  was  decided  to  reprint,  without  alteration,  the  Authorized  Version  from  the  edition 
of  i6ir,  with  the  marginal  references  and  renderings.  Special  care  has  been  taken  to 
furnish  in  all  cases  amended  trauslations  of  passages  proved  to  be  incorrect  in  our  version. 
The  Comment  is  chiefly  explanatory,  presentmg,  in  a  concise  and  readable  form,  the 
results  of  learned  investigations,  carried  on  in  this  and  other  countries  during  the  last 
half  century.  When  fuller  discussions  of  difficult  passages  or  important  subjects  are 
necessary,  they  are  placed  at  the  end  of  the  chapter,  or  of  the  volume. 

The  conduct  of  the  work — as  general  Editor — has  been  entnisted  to  the  Rev.  F.  C. 
Cook,  M.A.,  Canon  of  Exeter,  Preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to 
the  Queen. 

The  Archbishop  of  York,  in  consultation  with  the  Regius  Professors  of  Divinity  oi 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  advises  with  the  general  Editor  upon  questions  arising  during 
the  progress  of  the  work. 


IN    THE    PRESS, 

THE    NEW    TESTAMENT, 

Vol.      I. — Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke.  (Now  Ready.) 

Vol.    II. — John  and  acts.  (Now  Ready.) 

Vol.  III.— Epistles  of  St.  Paul. 

Vol.    IV. — Catholic  Epistles  and  Revelations. 


•«*  The  above  books  for  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  will  be  stnt^  ^st  or  ex^tn 
tkargei  J>aid,  upon  receipt  of  the  frice  by  the  publishers, 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS, 

743  and  745  Broadway,  New  Yopk 


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